


Perks of Being Forcibly Engaged to Your Best Friend

by Ohshitmyship



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Arranged Marriage, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Multi, OK highkey the best part about the Avatar Renaissance is Zukka becoming super popular, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), this is based off a tumblr post, we stan the gays, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:46:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 39,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24514075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohshitmyship/pseuds/Ohshitmyship
Summary: The Hundred Year War has been over for four years now, and the leaders of the various nations and kingdoms are still trying to smooth over relations, especially regarding the Fire Nation. The Chiefs of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes decide that the best way to build a good relationship with the Fire Nation is to arrange a marriage for the Firelord. This poses somewhat of a problem though, since the Southern Princess is dating the Avatar himself and the Northern Princess has been living her best life as a literal celestial body for the past five years. So the Chiefs and the Royal Advisors have to get...creative.This is based off a text post by @gayavatarstyle on tumblr bc. It was too good to pass up.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 655
Kudos: 2013





	1. The Visit

**Author's Note:**

> ok so we're gonna see where this goes but this was a concept I could NOT get this idea out of my head.This is gonna be silly and romantic and oh so very gay.
> 
> Happy Reading:)

Sokka was pleasantly surprised to hear that his father, as well as the Northern Chief Arnook, were visiting the Firelord’s Palace.

Sokka had received a messenger hawk only a few days before his father arrived – apparently there was going to be a meeting between Water Tribe chiefs and Fire Nation advisors. The letter did not say what the meeting was going to be about, and Sokka was curious.

The day his father arrived, Sokka was already waiting for him at the docks. He grinned as he saw his father disembark, and the grin was returned.

“Sokka!” Hakoda cried, opening his arms to embrace his son, “It’s good to see you!”

“You too, Dad,” Sokka replied cheerfully, hugging his father, “How was the trip?”

“Long,” Hakoda admitted with a sigh as he pulled back, “and I’ll have to return in a few days.”

“So why come all this way?” Sokka asked, “Not that I’m not happy to see you – but couldn’t this be settled through letters?”

“Unfortunately not,” a familiar voice from the ship called, “This is a rather complicated matter.”

“Bato!” Sokka greeted, “You’re here too?”

“You think I’m going to let the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe travel all the way to the Firelord’s Palace by himself?” Bato joked as he disembarked, “By the way, what are you even doing here?”

“I’ve been helping Zuko out with overturning old laws,” Sokka explained as they started heading towards the palace, “It’s a lot of work and we have to find as many loopholes as possible to try and please some of the older advisors.”

“I’m sure you’re spending a lot of time with the Firelord,” Bato noted, “It must be tiring, with everyone else from your group in the Earth Kingdom.”

“It’s not so bad. Zuko’s actually pretty great company.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Hakoda said, “How is Suki, by the way? Are the Kyoshi Warriors still guarding the palace?”

Sokka shook his head, reaching up to rub his neck awkwardly, “No, they went to Cranefish Town to train some new warriors. And uh, actually Suki and I broke up.”

“Oh.” Hakoda paused for a moment before laying a hand on Sokka’s shoulder, “I’m sorry to hear that son.”

“It’s alright,” Sokka assured him, “We were growing apart, and we were both so busy – it was just easier to be friends. I kinda miss her but...it’s alright.”

“I’m glad to hear that, at least. Now tell me, what is it like living in the Fire Nation?”

Sokka smiled, glad for the change in topic, “Well, there’s actually a royal hot spring on the palace grounds….”

* * *

A couple hours later, Sokka finished giving his tour of the Firelord’s Palace and a few other major points in the capital city. 

“It’s so strange,” Hakoda mused as they walked down the elaborate hallways, “I never imagined that I would ever be invited to the Firelord’s Palace on such peaceful terms.”

“Especially to discuss such important matters,” Bato added.

“That reminds me – what is this meeting about?” Sokka asked, “You haven’t said anything.”

“I’m...not supposed to say anything,” Hakoda admitted, “It’s to do with Fire Nation and Water Tribe relations.”

“Should I come then?” Sokka offered, “I’m basically an Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe, if you think about it.”

“I appreciate it, but it’s really not your place.”

“Oh, come on!” Sokka protested, “Why not? I’m not a child anymore, I should be able to have some say over the relations between our countries!”

“It’s not that –”

“Then what is it?”

“He’s not going to stop until you tell him,” Bato said.

Hakoda stared at his son for a moment before sighing deeply, “Alright. But don’t tell anyone I told you.”

“My lips are  _ sealed. _ ”

Hakoda looked at him a moment longer before admitting, “We are meeting to arrange a marriage for Firelord Zuko.”

“You’re  _ what?!” _ Sokka cried.

“Shh!” Hakoda scolded, “Like I said, I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“Why is Zuko getting an arranged marriage?” Sokka demanded.

“The relations between our tribes and the Fire Nation have never been... _ great _ ,” Hakoda explained, “Especially since the end of the war – many people do not trust Firelord Zuko. If he were to marry someone from the Water Tribe, one of the places most devastated by the Fire Nation, it would solidify relations.”

“It makes sense,” Sokka admitted, “But who is he going to marry?”

“That’s what we’re here to discuss.”

At that point, they had arrived at the meeting room and found a familiar figure waiting for them.

“Chief Arnook,” Hakoda greeted as they approached. He held out his arm, which was clasped firmly by the Northern Chief.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Chief Hakoda,” Arnook returned, before letting go and turning to Sokka with a smile, “And you as well, Sokka. It’s been a long time, how are you?”

“I’m good thanks, been turning over old and out-dated laws, keeping balance, you know, the usual.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Should we head inside? I believe the Fire Nation men are already inside.”

“I suppose we should. We’ll see you afterwards, Sokka.”

Sokka nodded and watched them disappear behind the curtain into the meeting room before sighing and walking away.

He found himself wandering the grounds, his feet as aimless as his mind.

Sokka supposed that arranged marriage came with politics – Yue had been in an arranged marriage before she became the moon, and Sokka was not new to the turmoil of the world. He had to admit that a marriage between Zuko and Water Tribe nobility would be a good idea but it was also...strange.

Sokka sure didn’t feel like a child, but he still felt too young to consider marriage. There were so many other things to be done, so many other people to meet. While he did miss Suki, he enjoyed flirting with the people in the capital, and he was  _ not  _ ready to settle down. He figured that Zuko was in a similar mindset, minus the flirting. Spirits, part of the reason why he and Mai broke up was so that he could focus on his duties as the Firelord – which, Sokka supposed, included lineage.

Whenever he tried to picture marriage, it was between Katara and Aang, and that was no surprise. Aang had had a crush on Katara since they busted him out of the iceberg and they’d been dating for almost four years now. It was pretty much a given that they would get married.

But trying to imagine someone else coming into their group? They’d all been through so much together that the idea of bringing someone else into Team Avatar just felt plain  _ weird. _ There was history between them all, history that was complicated and deep and meaningful. How would that history hold up to someone else, and someone who didn’t really have a choice of being there?

Somehow, Sokka had found his way to the gardens, where he was very surprised to see Zuko sitting by the pond, feeding the turtleducks. He looked more depressed than usual, which wasn’t great. Still, Sokka approached.

“I thought you’d be in the meeting,” Sokka said as he knelt down next to his friend. He was wearing his royal robes and they made quiet sounds as he held out some fruit to give to the turtleducks.

“The royal advisors thought it would be best if I weren’t present,” Zuko said after a minute, “I would be biased. They were right, of course.”

“So...you know what this is about?”

Zuko nodded.

“And you didn’t tell me?”

Zuko shrugged before throwing another grape to a little bird, “I kind of forgot about it until today, honestly. With everything that’s been going on...I just kind of tried not to think about it until I needed to.”

“That’s fair I guess,” Sokka admitted, “So...how do you feel about the whole thing?”

“I’m a little pissed about it.”

Sokka scoffed, “Yeah, I can tell you’re just  _ fuming.  _ You’re feeding the turtleducks with such  _ anger. _ ”

That was enough to make Zuko crack a smile, but it wasn’t for long, “It’s not like I can just throw a tantrum and change things. They’re  _ right –  _ a marriage between our two nations would solve a lot of problems.”

“But that doesn’t make it okay! You’re allowed to be upset!”

Zuko turned to Sokka, looking somewhat amused, “You sound more upset about this than I am.”

“I just...I have a bitter opinion of arranged marriages,” Sokka mumbled, picking a grape for himself.

“Why?”

Sokka sighed before beginning, “Remember my first girlfriend, Yue?”

“The Water Tribe princess who turned into the moon?”

“Yeah. Well, when we met, she was engaged. An arranged marriage to some loser named Hahn. He was a jerk, and she...well, she didn’t want to be a part of it, but she had to. Some bull about politics or whatever.”

“But...she’s a spirit now?”

“Yeah, but when she was human, her engagement made her miserable. We couldn’t even talk without her feeling super guilty.”

“That’s rough, buddy.”

“Yeah, but it’s rough for you too!” Sokka countered, “I don’t wanna see you miserable like she was.”

“Well, I’m always miserable.”

The two of them managed to laugh at that, and it lifted the mood just a little.

“This sucks,” Sokka said after some time, “We should do something fun and stupid until the meeting is over to make us feel better.”

“Well, what are you suggesting?”

Sokka grinned at his friend, “Meatswords.”


	2. Hakoda Is Trying, Okay?

Hakoda was... _ uncomfortable. _

The tradition of arranged marriages had never been big in the Southern Water Tribe. In fact, said tradition was why so many people emigrated to the Southern Tribe long before the war. He had mixed opinions on it, since he knew of arranged marriages that went well and were happy, while others were not. If there was another solution for this, he would have taken it, but Chief Arnook and the Fire Nation advisors insisted that it was the best, if not  _ only,  _ way.

Hakoda’s saving grace was that he wouldn’t have to offer his own daughter up. Partially because he knew Katara would be humiliated, but he also knew that she would give him more than a piece of her mind if he offered her hand in marriage to Zuko.

When Hakoda, Bato, and Arnook sat together at the end of a table and were served tea, a wizened old man in red robes spoke.

“Thank you, Chieftains of the Water Tribes, for travelling all this way to meet with us over the issue of Firelord Zuko’s future bride.”

“It is our honour,” Arnook said, “And we are more than happy to discuss such matters. Arranged marriage is a time-honoured tradition in our tribe.”

“We do not practice it as much,” Hakoda admitted, “But I am still open to discussion, and glad that the Southern Water Tribe was included.”

“Thank you. Now, who is the man beside you?”

“This is Bato, my right-hand man,” Hakoda explained, “My children consider him like a second father and I would not dream of leaving him out of such an important decision.”

“I...see,” the man said, “Well, I am Head Advisor Zenji. We may open negotiations. Chief Arnook, I have heard that you have a daughter of marrying age?”

“I did,” Arnook replied sadly, “My only daughter, Yue, is the same age as your young Firelord. Unfortunately, five years ago, she took her place among the stars as the moon spirit.”

“Excuse me,” Zenji said, “Did you say your only daughter is the  _ moon spirit _ ?”

“Yes. It was your Admiral Zhao that killed the original moon spirit, so my beloved daughter had to take her place in the sky.”

Zenji sighed, “Well, my condolences, Chief Arnook. But do you have any other children?”

Arnook shook his head.

“Right. Well, Hakoda, it is my understanding that you have two children – a boy and a girl. They were the ones to travel with the Avatar, correct?”

“Yes.”

“I’m assuming that your daughter is unmarried, since you said arranged marriages were not tradition in your tribe,” Zenji said, “So we should bring her into consideration.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Hakoda said.

“Is she already married?”

“No, Advisor.”

“Then why can’t she be considered?”

“Because she is dating Avatar Aang, Advisor.”

“Oh.”

The advisors glanced at their leader nervously. They’d hardly been in this meeting for five minutes and both Chiefs had their daughters spoken for.

“Is there any other woman of nobility of marrying age that we can consider for our Firelord?” Zenji asked, starting to sound rather exasperated.

“Our tribe has no such hierarchy,” Hakoda said.

“And ours is small,” Arnook added, “We have only a small handful of what you might consider noble, and that’s with me being generous.”

“Do they have children?” Zenji tried.

“I’m afraid the oldest that is unmarried is only twelve.”

Zenji groaned and gestured for more tea, which was quickly poured.

“By the spirits,” he said with a sigh, “We can’t marry our Firelord off to some peasant. This  _ is  _ the Royal Family. Is there  _ no one  _ in the Tribes we can betroth to the Firelord?”

After a moment, Bato spoke up.

“Hakoda has a child of marrying age.”

Hakoda tensed up and glanced at Bato, who remained stoic. Surely he could not mean…?

“What is her name?” Zenji asked hopefully.

“His name is Sokka.”

Zenji scowled, as did many of the other advisors, “You cannot be serious. You would really have us consider your  _ son  _ to be married to Firelord Zuko?”

“It would make sense,” Hakoda defended, “My son is next in line as Chief of the Southern Tribe so he has noble blood. He, along with Katara, was the one who discovered the Avatar and protected him on his journey across the world. Sokka was also heavily involved in the Day of Black Sun, as well as the battle of Sozin’s Comet,  _ and  _ he is playing a major part in keeping the balance of the world. I’m sure you have noticed that he is currently living in your palace to help Firelord Zuko create fairer laws and continue his era of peace and kindness.”

“Sokka would make a perfect consort,” Arnook agreed, “He did his best to protect Yue while defending the North and his knowledge allowed us to infiltrate your troops when you invaded. Sokka may not have been able to save my Yue, but I would still trust him with my life. In fact, if things had turned out differently, I would likely have arranged for Yue to marry Sokka instead.”

Hakoda looked at his fellow chief in awe. He had hardly spoken to Arnook before, and certainly not about Sokka’s relationship to Yue. To be honest, he was incredibly honoured, and he promised himself to make a point of telling Arnook such after the meeting.

Still, Zenji scowled, as did many of the other advisors.

“Such a relationship is not...accepted in the Fire Nation.”

“But Sokka has the same nobility as Yue or Katara. It makes perfect sense to set him up with Firelord Zuko.”

“You seem to misunderstand me. His political standing is fine, optimal, even. However, Sokka will not be able to give Zuko a child.”

“So this is what you’re worried about?” Bato accused.

“Bato…” Hakoda warned.

“No, Chief, your Bato is correct,” Arnook interjected, “We all know that the family that rules the Fire Nation is not the one that first sat upon the throne. Besides that, there are other lineage options such as adoption, surrogate, or other relatives.”

“But the  _ divine right  _ to rule is one that is passed down!” Zenji insisted.

“Perhaps it is,” Hakoda said, “So let’s say that Sokka and Zuko  _ do  _ get married and decide to adopt. Would it not be divine fate as to which child they chose? If your  _ divine right  _ is so crucial, then surely that right would not restrict itself to something as trivial as blood?”

_ And there it is. _

Hakoda had brought rationality to their divine thoughts – if they countered him, they would be questioning and doubting that divinity. 

“You are lucky that Firelord Zuko had the foresight to repeal the laws against same-sex marriage,” Zenji grumbled after a tense minute of silence. He set his teacup down with a sigh, “So, Firelord Zuko shall marry Sokka of the Water Tribe. Let us discuss the wedding arrangements.”

* * *

Over an hour later, Hakoda was finally let out of the meeting. They had decided on a tentative date for the wedding, and the announcement of the engagement would be made within the month. 

Hakoda stretched and Bato helped him to his feet as the three men exited the room.

“Thank you,” he told Chief Arnook, “I am deeply honoured by everything you said about my son.”

“I meant every word,” he assured Hakoda, “He is an honourable man, much like his father. Firelord Zuko is lucky to have such a spouse. Now, I think I’m going to go sight-seeing. Would you like to join me?”

“I should find my son, before he hears about his own engagement from someone else,” Hakoda said with a sigh, “Perhaps Bato should like to join you?”

Bato laughed, “And miss Sokka’s reaction? No way!”

“Suit yourselves,” Arnook said good-naturedly before leaving. Once he had, Hakoda sighed and turned back towards the gardens, Bato beside him.

“He’s not going to like this. Neither of them are.”

“Better Sokka than Katara,” Bato said, “He’s far less likely to drown you for giving away his hand in marriage.”

Hakoda chuckled at that, “Trust me, I count myself  _ very  _ lucky that Katara is dating Aang. If it were anyone but the Avatar, then we’d have no choice. I’m still amazed they agreed to Sokka and Zuko.”

“Not easily. Sozin really had the most backwards views, huh?”

“Dangerous, when one is as powerful as he is.”

“Hilarious – given the Avatar before Roku.”

Hakoda did laugh at that, then he spotted a palace servant carrying a tray.

“Oh, excuse me,” Hakoda called out to them, “Could you please tell me where Sokka might be?”

“Oh, he’s in the courtyard with Firelord Zuko.”

“Perfect. Now, could you please point me in the direction of the courtyard?”

The servant did so and the men thanked them before heading there.

“It’ll save everyone some energy to tell them both,” Bato offered.

“Yes, but why does it have to be me?”

“Well, you  _ are  _ the father-in-law.”

Hakoda shoved his friend playfully and they laughed. Soon, they found the courtyard and they stopped dead when they saw what the two boys were doing.

Sokka and Zuko had changed to more freeing clothes and were sparring with their blades but...not quite right. Their blades, instead of being bare, were skewered with meat and as they exchanged blows, both boys took bites of the other’s meat.

“Um...what are you doing?” Hakoda finally asked.

“Oh, you’re finished already!” Sokka said, lowering his sword as Zuko paused and did the same with his dual blades, “And this is Meatswords – basically we stick meat on the swords and fight, but you have to try and eat all of the meat of the other person’s sword. Whoever has the least amount of meat at the end of it loses, which is  _ slightly  _ unfair because Zuko has two swords.”

“But you can put more meat on your blade,” Zuko countered, “It balances out!”

“Oh yeah,” Bato said with a chuckle, “they’ll do well in marriage.”

“Did you say marriage?” Zuko asked, turning back to the men as they descended the steps into the courtyard, “I’m assuming you reached a decision on my engagement.”

“We have. Uh, both of you boys might want to put down your...meatswords.”

Sokka and Zuko exchanged worried glances before setting their blades down on a table which held platters of meat, sauces, water, and spices.

“Well?” Zuko demanded.

Hakoda took a deep breath before saying, “You and Sokka are engaged.”

“ _What_?!”  
“I thought I was marrying Water Tribe royalty?” Zuko asked.

“Hey!”

“Sokka  _ is  _ royalty...technically speaking. Look, Yue is a celestial spirit, Northern Tribe nobility were either married or too young, and Sokka is the only person who fits all the criteria to marry the Firelord.”

“Why can’t Katara marry him?” Sokka cried, “Why do I have to?”

“In case you’ve forgotten,” Bato reminded him, “Your sister is dating the Avatar.”

“Ugh, I  _ did  _ forget about that.”

“Is there really no one else who’s eligible?” Zuko tried.

“Oh, am I not good enough for you?”

“What?  _ You’re  _ the one that wanted to pass me off to your sister!”

“Are you saying  _ Katara  _ isn’t good enough?”

“No!”

“My sister is the greatest,” Sokka defended, poking Zuko’s chest menacingly, “And any guy would be lucky to have her!”

“Sokka, I  _ know _ ,” Zuko snapped, slapping Sokka’s hand away, “I’m just saying I don’t wanna marry her! Or you, for that matter!”

“Well, I don’t wanna marry you either!”

“Boys,” Hakoda said, barely holding back a sigh, “I know this isn’t the best-case scenario, but it was the best we could come up with.”

“Are there  _ any  _ other options?” Zuko asked.

“I’m afraid not. No one else in the Water Tribe even comes close to an acceptable spouse for the Firelord.”

“What about my mother? She was nothing but an actress, and Father married her.”

“Yes,” Hakoda said, “but your father was not desperately trying to smooth relations after a century-long war.”

“What about someone from the Earth Kingdom?” Sokka offered, “There’s  _ tons  _ of nobility there!”

“The Earth Kingdom doesn’t need deeper ties to the Fire Nation,” Hakoda told him, “It’s the people of the Water Tribe that feel most hurt by the Fire Nation, and mostly ignored. I’m sorry Sokka, but it has to be you.”

“But I don’t want to be engaged!” Sokka complained, “I want to be able to be free to make my own decisions! If I marry Zuko I can’t…” Sokka seemed to deflate a bit, “I can’t ever get married to someone I actually love.”

The courtyard was quiet as the weight of what was happening truly settled in. Before, it had been all jokes, hot tempers, and debates. Now though, they were facing consequences.

Hakoda approached the boys and put a hand on Sokka’s shoulder, speaking to them both.

“I know this isn’t ideal, and I  _ know  _ that you’d like to marry for love but that is simply a privilege we don’t have. Zuko’s duty as the Firelord is to his nation, and the same falls to you Sokka, as a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. On the bright side, you two already have a good relationship, one of friendship. While it may not be romance, it’s still a good base for a marriage.”

It was quiet for a moment longer before Sokka finally nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I mean –” he turned to Zuko with a wary smile, “– there are worse people to be engaged to, right?”

Zuko scoffed, “It’s a short list.”

“Hey! I’m your fiancé! You should be nice to me!” Sokka shrugged Hakoda’s hand off him to get up in Zuko’s face and the two were back to bickering.

Like an old married couple.


	3. Iroh Gives the Best Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok this has been a lot of fun and I think I really like writing this fic lol

The next couple of days were strange.

The Water Tribesmen and the Advisors spent most of their time in meetings, which left Sokka and Zuko more or less alone with each other. This usually was fine, because they spent a lot of time together anyways, be it looking over paperwork, training, or just hanging out. They tried to keep their routine up, and they did for the most part. Sokka and Zuko were very good friends after all, so it wasn’t hard to just go about their business.

But every now and then, it would suddenly hit them that they were engaged. It would get uncomfortably silent for a time, and they’d have to try and force themselves back on track. It was almost like breathing: it’s a natural thing, but the moment you think about it, you have to remind yourself to breathe, to force it.

The worst part was that both boys were dealing with it  _ very  _ differently.

Zuko figured that the best way was simply to accept it. He’d learned how to compromise a lot, and if being engaged to Sokka allowed him to continue his work, then so be it. There were worse things to give up.

Sokka, however, was trying and failing to cover up his anger with humour. 

Whenever it was brought up, Sokka tried to play it lightly, joking about how he’s already had experience living with Zuko, how being married wouldn’t be that different from what they were doing currently, that Zuko was lucky to have him. But every joke had a tone of bitterness to it, and Zuko knew that his friend was trying to convince himself as much as anyone else.

Early on the third day, Zuko found Sokka in the garden, drinking tea and eating a breakfast of fresh fruit. He’d always been an early riser. They both were.

“Hey,” Sokka greeted, “Why are you dressed like that?”

Zuko glanced down at his green and brown clothes, “Oh, I’m going to visit Uncle in Ba Sing Se.”

Sokka nodded and turned back to looking at the garden, “Right. I think I’ll stay here, spend some time with Dad.”

“I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

Sokka smiled a bit, “Does that mean I’m in charge?”

“ _ No.  _ I’ll be gone for like, forty-eight hours. You are not interim Firelord for forty-eight hours.”

“I mean we’re engaged, I’m  _ basically  _ Firelord already.”

“Our engagement hasn’t even been announced. You’re not in charge. I’ll be back soon.”

“Alright, fine. Tell Iroh I say hi.”

“I will.”

With that, Zuko turned and left, heading towards the back of the palace, where his personal balloon was waiting for him.

* * *

Zuko spent most of the day working in the tea shop.

Although he was Firelord, he still enjoyed taking the time to serve other people, to hear what they had to say. It wasn’t always fun – customers tended to suck, especially in the upper ring. But, it was humbling work.

At the end of the day, once the shop was closed, Zuko made him and his uncle some Ginseng tea. 

“It is always a pleasure to see you, nephew,” Iroh said fondly as they sat down on the balcony, watching the sun set over the city, “But what brings you all the way to Ba Sing Se? Am I to act as interim Firelord again?”

“No, Uncle,” Zuko replied, staring at his teacup, “Nothing like that. I thought I should tell you….” He took a breath before looking at his uncle and forcing a small smile, “I’m engaged.”

“Oh, that’s great news!” Iroh cheered, “Who is the lucky lady?”

“It’s Sokka.”

“Ah, I see.” Iroh set his tea down and smiled softly at Zuko, “I’m glad you have found love, and Sokka would make a wonderful consort to the Firelord. I am also very honoured that you would feel so comfortable to tell me.”

“It’s not like that,” Zuko huffed, “It was decided by the Royal Advisors and the Water Tribe Chiefs.”

“Ohhh, so it’s an arranged marriage. Tell me, Zuko, do you love Sokka?”

“No!”

“I thought you two were friends?”

“We are,” Zuko said, “He’s one of my best friends and I enjoy his company, but I don’t want to  _ marry  _ him.”

“Hmm.” Iroh took a long sip of his tea before speaking again, “Did you know that my marriage was arranged?”

Zuko’s eyes widened, “No, I didn’t.”

Iroh nodded and took another sip, “Arranged marriages are not typical for the Royal Family, but when I was young, I was too busy with my military career to even consider love, so I tasked the Royal Advisors with finding me a suitable wife. They found Rei.”

“Did you love her?”

“Oh, very dearly,” Iroh admitted, a fond tone in his voice, “But, we were never in love.”

“But you just said that you loved her!”

“There are many different kinds of love, dear nephew. I love  _ you,  _ but that doesn’t mean I’m in love with you.” Iroh chuckled before continuing, “While Rei and I never shared a romantic love, I loved her as a friend – my best friend, in fact. She was the best companion I could ever ask for, and when she died, my heart broke. Although neither of us had much choice in the marriage, we were still very happy together.”

“Aren’t you sad that you never got to find true love though?” Zuko asked.

“But I did find true love. I found true love with my son, Lu Ten. I found it with you. I found it in the Spirit World. I find it every day in this teashop.”

“And I’m glad you’re happy, Uncle,” Zuko tried, “But  _ I  _ want that romantic love, I want to find it on my own.”

“You may very well find it with Sokka,” Iroh offered, “Have you ever entertained the idea that you might be attracted to more than just women?”

“I didn’t think I was  _ allowed _ ,” Zuko admitted, staring at his tea, “It was something that we were taught was bad and unnatural, ever since we were kids. When I put equal marriage back in place, I did it because it was the right thing to do. Since becoming Firelord, I haven’t really had time to think about any of this.”

“Maybe you should consider it,” Iroh advised, “I’m not saying you  _ will  _ fall in love with Sokka, should you be attracted to men, but it could be an opportunity.”

“But what if he doesn’t love me back?”

The question was quiet, and if there had been any other noise in the moment, it would have been lost.

“He already loves you as a friend,” Iroh responded, “so you are guaranteed a life filled with laughter and joy. As for unrequited romance, you and Sokka will figure something out. After all, it used to be quite common for the Firelord to take on a concubine or two.”

“Uncle!” Zuko hissed, his face turning red and his hands steaming.

“I’m just saying it’s an  _ option, _ ” Iroh said, “Not that you  _ have  _ to. If romantic love is so important for you, it will find a way.”

“Right.”

The two continued to drink their tea, finding an easy silence as they did so. Eventually, Iroh spoke.

“So, when is the engagement announcement?”

“Next month. As for the wedding itself, they’re trying to figure it out. They say that it needs to be done as soon as possible, but we also need time to prepare. I think they’re aiming for six months.”

“Be sure to keep me updated – I would hate to miss my own nephew’s wedding.”

Zuko smiled, “I’ll personally deliver an invitation.”


	4. Fiery Temper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so y'all have taken to this fic a lot and I'm really hppy about ti!!! I'm super glad that yall seem to like it and I really hope yall continue to enjoy it!!!!
> 
> happy reading:)

Aang, Toph, and Katara had come to the Firelord’s Palace the last day Hakoda was there. Partially so Katara could spend some time with her father, but mostly because Zuko and Sokka wanted their friends to know about the engagement before the rest of the world knew. And since Zuko was trapped in a meeting about Earth Kingdom trade or whatever, Sokka had to be the one to tell them. Their reactions were about what he expected.

Aang was confused, Katara was furious, and Toph laughed for a solid two minutes with no break.

“It’s not funny, Toph!” Katara finally scolded.

“Yes, it is!” Toph argued with a grin, “Sokka and Zuko are getting  _ married _ ! And they’re only getting married because you’re dating Twink Toes, and Sokka’s ex is the moon! It’s  _ hilarious _ !”

“How are you two doing?” Aang asked.

“Alright, I think,” Sokka admitted, “It’s just weird, y’know? Like, I never thought I would be forced to marry someone, let alone Zuko of all people.”

“It’s ridiculous!” Katara cried, “I can’t believe Dad would do this to you!”

“Well it doesn’t sound like he had a choice,” Toph said.

“He didn’t,” Sokka agreed, “There was no one from the Northern Water Tribe that Zuko could marry, and I was the only one from the Southern Tribe. Well, either me or you, but Aang is your ‘get out of jail free’ tile.”

“Seriously? Just because I’m dating Aang,  _ that’s  _ the only reason I wasn’t forced to marry Zuko?! Because I  _ belong  _ to another man?!”

“No,” Sokka said, “it’s because you’re  _ dating  _ the  _ Avatar _ ! Dad even said it himself – if you were dating literally anyone else, then he would have been forced to offer you up instead. Besides, it’s not Dad you should be mad at, or Chief Arnook.”

“I know,” Katara huffed, “but it’s still frustrating. Especially since Dad  _ knows  _ how you feel about arranged marriages!”

“It doesn’t sound like Zuko’s much happier about it either,” Aang mused, “I’m sure he’s just as upset about this as you are.”

“He is. He went to Ba Sing Se to visit Iroh only a few days ago. He’s still been kinda miserable, but only a little more than usual.”

“Wait, I thought the Fire Nation didn’t have marriage equality?” Toph asked, “I know that that was a big problem in a lot of Earth Kingdom colonies.”

“Sozin did outlaw it,” Aang confirmed, “and Zuko repealed that law. But before Sozin, liking the same gender just wasn’t a big deal. We Air Nomads have always been open and accepting about things like that, but all of the other nations were still pretty tolerant about it. Actually, I thought that Zuko was bi.”

“Wait, why?” Sokka asked.

“The dual swords.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Toph asked.

“Back in my day,” Aang said, once again sounding like an old man, “it was a euphemism in the Fire Nation to use the dual swords – two swords swing both ways. When Zuko rescued me using the swords, I just assumed he knew, but I guess the saying fell out of use.”

“Well, is he bi?” Toph asked, “Are  _ you _ ?”

“I am,” Sokka replied, “Water Tribe has never really cared about that sorta stuff. But Zuko...I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.”

“Seriously?” Katara asked, “You two are engaged, but you haven’t talked about the notion that you two just  _ might  _ both like boys?”

“We’ve been busy!” Sokka protested, “And it’s been kinda...it’s been weird, okay? It’s better since Zuko got back from Ba Sing Se but….” Sokka trailed off, unsure as to what he really wanted to say. 

Katara thankfully picked up on this, because she turned to Aang and said, “I think Sokka and I are gonna go on a walk. We’ll meet you guys and Zuko in time for dinner.”

“Sure!” Aang replied cheerfully, “Toph, why don’t we look at the rock garden?”

“Oh yeah! Zuko finally gave me permission to upgrade it!” Toph took Aang’s hand and eagerly rushed towards the palace’s rock garden, leaving Sokka and Katara alone.

“How are you doing with all of this?” Katara asked seriously.

“It sucks,” Sokka admitted with a sigh. The two began ambling around the palace, “I mean, Zuko is great and all and he’s certainly not the worst person I could be engaged to but…. I want to be able to make my own choices. I’ll never be able to do that! And you saw how miserable Yue was, how much she hated being engaged to Hahn. I don’t wanna be miserable like that.”

“I understand,” Katara said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder, “but keep in mind that Yue didn’t even  _ like  _ her fiancé, and she was in love with you. I don’t think you’ll ever be miserable like that because you and Zuko are best friends, and it’s not like you’re in love with anyone else.”

“But what if I am?”

“Well, are you?”

Sokka scowled, “No.”

“Is there anyone you’re  _ considering _ ?”

“No.”

“Well, then it doesn’t sound like you’re going to get involved with anyone else.”

“Hey! I mean, I  _ know,  _ but hey! And what about Zuko? He doesn’t get a choice in this either! Since when do  _ you  _ of all people agree with arranged marriages?”

“I don’t,” Katara admitted, “but I get why this is happening. I mean, I still think it’s stupid because the fact that you’re friends should be good enough. Wait, why don’t they do that instead?”

“Do what?”

“Make you an official Ambassador!” Katara said, “If you live here and become Ambassador to the Water Tribe, that would be great! It would be just the same as you two being married!”

Sokka sighed and shook his head, “Dad, Zuko, and I talked about that and it’s not going to work. First off, it’ll be super offensive to Zuko and the Royal Advisors if we decline and break it off. Secondly, if I were just given the title of Ambassador, it would feel kinda empty, since Zuko is already close with us and the Avatar – who’s the ambassador to the whole world.” He shook his head again, “Our only real option is to get married. On the bright side, it’ll give me some political power too, so I can help out more.”

“Is there really nothing else you can do?”

“Not really, no.”

“I’m sorry, Sokka.”

By that point, they had arrived at the Royal Gallery – the area leading to the Firelord’s Chamber that held intricate tapestries of every Firelord there ever was. The one directly in front of the throne room was an empty wall. As was tradition, the images had been shuffled down to make room for Ozai being moved from the central place. However, the regular tradition was for the old tapestry to be moved only after a new one had been made. Zuko had held off on the portrait, but decided to make a point of moving Ozai to the side, making it clear he was no longer in charge. The bare wall also had a feeling of incompletion, of a future yet to be made.

“He’s already accepted it,” Sokka said quietly as he looked at the empty wall, “He’s started speaking with the Fire Sages and Royal Advisors about the wedding itself. Now that they’ve decided all the political stuff, they’ve opened up the meetings to us. Mostly.”

“So you’ve gone to them? Isn’t Dad in one now?”

Sokka nodded, “A few. It’s kinda hard to get excited about a wedding I don’t wanna be in. And this is the last meeting, mostly about moving forward after the wedding with the Water Tribe.”

“Well, it’s good that you get to have some input on the wedding now, right?”  
“I guess so. They’re going to try and make it an equal blend of Fire Nation and traditional Water Tribe, but they sound pretty different. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out.”

“Sokka…” Katara frowned up at her brother softly, “How do you feel about Zuko?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well...I know you’ve always preferred girls, but I also know you and Zuko are close.”

“I get what you’re saying. And…” Sokka sighed, “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it, like, at  _ all. _ It’s just been so awkward. Anyways, I don’t think Zuko likes guys.”

“Do you know that for sure?”

“No. Look, it doesn’t matter,” Sokka said.

“Why not?”

“It just  _ doesn’t _ !”

“Sokka –”

“It doesn’t matter because he’s not going to like me anyways!” Sokka snapped, “He’s been in love with Mai since they were little kids, and I think he still is! He obviously has a type, and I’m not it. Which, again, doesn’t matter because I don’t even like him! It’s not like we’re going to fall in love or anything. We’re going to get married, and we’re going to be friends and work together and try to make the best of things. We’ll probably get bored of each other and have some stupid affairs and fight about it but we’ll still show up in public and act like everything’s alright and it’ll make everything awkward and it’ll  _ suck. _ ”

“Sokka!” Katara hissed.

“ _ What _ ?” He demanded.

“Zuko,” she whispered, looking over Sokka’s shoulder. He turned around to see Zuko standing just outside of the thick red curtains. His expression was tight, and hard to read. When he saw Sokka face him, he strode forward, his elegant robes flowing about him as he did. Sokka stood his ground, unsure as to what was about to happen.

“I know this is rough, but this is rough for both of us,” Zuko began, speaking quietly and in a dangerous tone, “So I would appreciate it if you didn’t complain about our engagement right outside my throne room when we’re in the  _ middle of an important meeting. _ ”

“I’m sorry Zuko,” Katara said, laying a hand on her brother’s arm, “We’ll take this somewhere else.”

“Well why can’t we talk about it?” Sokka demanded, “You said it yourself – it sucks for both of us!”

“We can talk about it  _ later _ .” Zuko’s voice was tighter, and Sokka could see him tense up even under all the fancy clothes.

“Or we could talk about it now,” Sokka insisted, “No time like the present!”

“Why are you suddenly so mad?” Zuko demanded, “Ever since we found out, you’ve been playing everything off as a joke! Why now have you decided to start throwing a fit?”

“I am not throwing a fit!” Sokka argued, “And I’m just tired, man! I’ve been trying to be upbeat and I was just ranting to Katara. Honestly, I forgot you were in a meeting, but it’s probably good that you’re hearing this.”

“As if I didn’t already know you were upset? I know how much you hate arranged marriages after your relationship with Yue, so I know that this hasn’t been easy for you!” Zuko yelled, “And I know you’ve been trying to hide it, but I’m not stupid! I know you’re miserable with this whole thing!”

“You are too! I don’t understand why we both have to pretend like everything is okay when it’s  _ not _ ! I just think it’ll be easier if we stop pretending and appreciate how stupid this whole thing is!”

“ _ Fine _ ! So let’s just be miserable together.”

“Wasn’t that your entire last relationship?” Sokka poked.

**“Enough** !” Zuko yelled, waving his arm. As he did so, flames bloomed from his hand, startling the two of them. They were quickly extinguished and didn’t even touch them – merely a testament to Zuko’s temper.

Zuko took a deep breath before speaking, his voice taught, “We will talk about this later.” 

Then he turned back to his throne room, where several Earth kingdom dignitaries had their heads poked out, watching the whole thing. Once Zuko turned, they quickly disappeared behind the curtain.

Zuko stormed in after them, the curtain swishing back into place and hiding him from view.

“Well,” Sokka said lightly, “I haven’t seen him that mad since the time he was still trying to kill us.”


	5. Tea Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pining? oh boy
> 
> happy reading:)

Zuko wanted some time to himself.

This, however, was somewhat difficult. He was used to servants and guards following him or at least keeping an eye on him and he’d learned that if he asked politely, they were likely to leave him be. Unfortunately, the rest of Team Avatar was also in the palace, and they were  _ far  _ less likely to leave him be.

So, he went to the one place neither his friends nor the guards would think to look – the kitchen.

It had taken a few months to get the kitchen staff used to his presence. Usually when someone from the Royal Family came to the kitchen, it was for one of two reasons: to yell at someone, or to get a snack. However, Zuko had spent a lot of time in his banishment cooking and making tea. It had brought him a lot of peace and he’d learned to enjoy it, so whenever he was feeling particularly stressed, he would go down to the kitchen and make some tea. 

When he’d first taken the throne, the kitchen staff would insist on making food and tea  _ for  _ him. He had to basically beg them to let him do his own thing and it took almost an entire year before they finally let him do what he needed to do. They stayed out of his way, he stayed out of theirs.

So at the moment, Zuko was blowing steam off his tea when he heard a familiar voice.

“Uh, hey.”

He scowled and set his tea down a little too fast, some liquid spilling over and burning his hands. He cursed before turning around to see Sokka standing behind him, smiling sheepishly.

“Can I not enjoy my tea in peace?” He complained.

“Look, I just wanted to apologize,” Sokka said, “I shouldn’t have complained so loud right outside your throne room. I promise I didn’t do it on purpose, but that doesn’t make it okay.”

Zuko stared at him a moment before sighing and walking around to grab another cup, “I probably shouldn’t’ve lost my temper,” he admitted, “Do you want some tea? It’s jasmine.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

The two of them sat at the counter and sipped their tea peacefully while the kitchen staff moved around them, no doubt paying attention to their every word.

“This is hard for both of us,” Sokka finally said, “So it’s not fair for me to be so pissy.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Zuko said, “Hard, I mean.”

Sokka frowned at him, “What?”

“When I went to visit my uncle, I talked about the engagement. I found out that he was actually in an arranged marriage too.”

Sokka’s eyes widened, “Really? How did that turn out?”

“He said that while they were never in love, they were best friends, and he loved her a lot. He said that our marriage could be like that, and we already have a head start because we’re friends.”

“I guess that makes sense. It’s really not so bad because we’re such good friends.”

“But…” Zuko gripped his cup and stared into his tea, very pointedly  _ not  _ looking at Sokka, “I don’t think I can be any more than a friend.”

“Is this because of what I said earlier?”

Zuko changed a glance at Sokka to see him smiling.

“Kinda, yeah.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Sokka said easily, “I was just letting off some steam. While I am attracted to guys, I don’t like, have some secret crush on you or something.”

“That’s...actually a relief,” Zuko admitted, “To be honest, I was a little worried that you were secretly in love with me.”

Sokka scoffed, “Sorry, no secret love over here.”

Zuko chuckled a little at that before speaking quietly, “I’m not sure if I like men.”

“You’ve really never thought about it?”

“Well if it ever crossed my mind, I stopped it,” Zuko said, “It’s not like my family was open and accepting. Are you forgetting that it was my great-grandfather that outlawed marriage equality?”

“I guess that makes sense,” Sokka admitted, “So...are you going to think about it?”

Zuko scoffed, “I kind of have to now, don’t I?”

“Oh yeah. I guess being forcibly engaged to another man will kind of make you think twice about your sexuality.”

Zuko smiled at Sokka’s joke and it felt nice to  _ actually  _ smile at something. He’d been more miserable than usual for the past little while and he was grateful for the change.

“So the rest of Team Avatar has decided to stay,” Sokka said after a little bit, “At least until the announcement. Aang said something about not wanting to miss a big Fire Nation party.”

“For a monk, he sure likes to party.”

Sokka laughed.

It was a hearty, deep laugh. Zuko hadn’t really meant it as a joke, more of an observation really. He could see the humour in it though and he was about to say something else, but the words died on his tongue.

Sokka was still laughing, his eyes closed and mouth wide open, a slight pink dusting his cheeks. He looked sort of…pretty.

_ Oh no. _


	6. Engagement Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so y'all seem to really be liking this one and I'm really excited!!!! I have a lot planned fo this story lmao and you bet it's gonna cheesy and fluffy.
> 
> also, I wrote this instead of studying for an astronomy exam. whoops. no ragrets
> 
> Happy reading:)

Sokka was nervous.

He shouldn’t have been nervous.

They’d rehearsed the announcement a dozen times. It would be held at the royal Coronation Plaza southeast of the palace. Some Fire Sage elders would introduce Zuko. Zuko would take the stage and explain that he has taken a fiancé and hopes to create better ties to the Water Tribe. Sokka would be introduced. The crowd would cheer, the party would start, everyone would get drunk and they’d all be hungover the next day. Easy as fish pie.

But he still paced the back balcony before the announcement, feeling  _ incredibly  _ uncomfortable in Fire Nation robes. They were thick and silky much like the robes of the Kyoshi Warriors, but there were so many  _ layers.  _ And the shoulder armor felt weird. He was used to armor, but not just on his shoulders. And his hair was pulled into such a tight bun that it was already beginning to ache. And his shoes were pointy and too tight. And it was  _ hot.  _ The sun was setting and he was already sweating up a storm.

“Can you stop pacing?” Zuko suddenly snapped, leaning against one of the poles that looked onto the lake below.

“Well I’m hot and nervous and these robes are so  _ heavy _ !” Sokka complained. 

“If you stopped pacing, it wouldn’t be so hot.”

Sokka huffed and crossed his arms, stopping in front of Zuko, “Why couldn’t I wear Water Tribe clothes? I have formal clothes!”

“The Fire Sages and the Advisors thought it would be best if you wore Fire Nation colours for our engagement,” Zuko explained impatiently, “Something about our two nations uniting and you pledging loyalty to me.”

“Pledging  _ loyalty _ ?” Sokka cried, “Am I your servant now?”

“No!” Zuko snapped, then he took a breath and seemed to try to calm himself down. He was in his more elaborate robes, with a flowing red cape from his pointed black shoulder spikes, “Look, the Fire Sages said you should be wearing red, so for one day of the year, you can wear red instead of blue.”

“Are you forgetting the period of three months when I wore  _ only  _ red?”

“Yes, when you were busy infiltrating the Fire Nation. You only did that for survival.”

“Either way it was a  _ long  _ time!” Sokka protested, “I like blue! Blue likes me!”

“It’s just a few hours Sokka. Besides, at least you’re not wearing these dumb shoulder spikes.”

“Yeah,” Sokka replied with a smirk, “I thought they would look better as you grew a bit more, but they still look stupid.”

“They keep mixing up my measurements with my father’s,” Zuko grumbled, “The shoulder spikes are always a little too big.”

“Sucks for you.”

Before Zuko could reply, one of the Fire Sages came to collect them, guiding them to the front. Zuko was introduced and stepped forward so that the crowd below could see him while Sokka stood back in the shadow. 

He couldn’t help but be reminded of Zuko’s coronation four years ago. Of course, he had been down in the crowd before, waiting to congratulate his friend. 

“When I first became Firelord,” Zuko began, his voice taking on a booming quality, “I promised an era of peace, equality, and kindness. It has not been an easy road, but each day I am working towards a better future and away from the reign before me. Today is no different. I am now engaged, and I hope that this marriage will bring many things not just to me, but to the world; I hope it brings a more trusting relationship with the Water Tribes and the Fire Nation, I hope it brings equality, and I hope that it brings prosperity and happiness. With the guidance of the Water Tribe Chiefs, the Fire Sages, and the Royal Advisors, I have chosen my partner – Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe.”

As Sokka stepped out onto the platform, applause greeted him, though it sounded...confused. The nobles gathered there were polite and also dared not do anything to offend the new Firelord or his new spouse-to-be. Amongst them all, he heard Aang’s whoop of approval, sitting in the front row with their friends.

Yeah, can’t really protest both the Avatar  _ and  _ the Firelord at his own engagement party.

As Sokka knelt in front of Zuko, the crowd fell quiet again. Though his head was lowered, Sokka could see one of the Sages hand a hair ornament to Zuko. It was a simplified, stylized flame, made for the Firelord’s royal consort. He’d seen it in a handful of paintings of Ursa and other Royal Families, and he belatedly realized that the crown must have belonged to Zuko’s mother.

“By wearing this,” Zuko said, holding it up so that the light of the lanterns caught the red of the ornament, “you become my consort. You shall live with me in the palace and aid me in my struggles. Though we are not yet married, you are still bound to me.”

Sokka expected the speech to end there – it was written by some of the Advisors, meant to display the power the Firelord had while also promoting a beneficial relationship between the two nations.

But Zuko continued.

“This will be a relationship of equality. As you help me, I shall help you. As you are bound to me, I am bound to you. We shall remain loyal and kind to each other, both sides with equal gain.”

Then Zuko gently placed the ornament in Sokka’s bun. Once he had, he held out his hand and helped Sokka up, and the crowd once again cheered.

After that, Zuko and Sokka descended into the crowd to receive forced congratulations. While all of the words people told them were the same, the way they said it tended to differ strongly. Sokka shouldn’t have been so surprised. Honestly, he just nodded and smiled through it, knowing that once they accepted congratulations from nobility, the party could really begin. He suspected that his fiancé was doing the same.

“Well well, this is a surprise.”

“Mai,” Zuko said, his eyes widening as Mai and her mother approached them.

“We came to offer our congratulations,” Mai’s mother said cheerfully.

“So, congratulations.”

Mai’s voice was tight and curt. She looked more frustrated than bored, which meant that she was probably  _ pissed.  _ The worst part was that she looked at Sokka when she spoke, not Zuko. 

“Thank you,” Zuko said, and Sokka had to admit that he was impressed by how natural it sounded. He would have thought Zuko wouldn’t have noticed anything off with his ex-girlfriend, if not for the strange glance he gave her.

But then the two of them moved on and some other noble family offered them polie congratulations. 

The last people to find them were their friends, who had patiently waited for the nobility to get their say.

“Well, I guess it’s official,” Toph said when they approached, “You two really are getting married.”

“That was a really nice speech you gave, Zuko,” Katara offered, “It was sweet.”

“I bet that it wasn’t what the Advisors wanted you to say, though,” Aang guessed, “Was it?”

“No,” Zuko admitted, “The first part was theirs, but I hated it. The whole point of this marriage is to build a better relationship with the Water Tribe, not take it over. A speech like that just makes people think I’m doing this as some sort of display of power.” He sighed, “The Advisors are probably going to let me know how rude it was to change their speech.”

“Well, I thought it was a great speech,” a familiar voice said.

Team Avatar parted to reveal Iroh, who wore elaborate Fire Nation robes and smiled warmly.

“Uncle!” Zuko said, rushing forward to hug him, “I’m glad you could make it!”

“I wouldn’t miss my favourite nephew’s engagement party!” Iroh said with a laugh, “Besides, I’ve greatly missed the parties thrown here in the Fire Nation. Oh, the balls in Ba Sing Se are fanciful enough, but if you ask me, they’re far too stuffy!” Then Iroh turned to Sokka, “Would you mind if I stole your fiancé away for a few moments?”

“Oh, uh, sure. Go right ahead.”

“Thank you – we’ll be back in time for the food!”

Sokka and Zuko shrugged at each other, so clearly Zuko didn’t know what his uncle wanted to talk about. Oh well, they’d find out soon enough.

“So,” Toph said, “You gotta wear those fancy robes all the time?”

“No, thankfully,” Sokka replied, “I just had to wear them for tonight. Same with the crown – Zuko says I don’t have to wear it around the palace, but if I’m meeting with important nobility or there’s a big event, then I gotta wear it. But he did say I can wear my Water Tribe clothes with it, something about cultural mixing or whatever.”

“Well, I think it looks great on you!” Toph complimented with a smile.

“Why thanks! Y’know, I was worried about – oh. Why do you have to do that?”

“I’ll stop when you stop falling for it.”

“So what’s your title now?” Aang asked excitedly, “Are you like, Co-Firelord? Firelord-to-be?”

“I’m not any kind of Firelord! And I think my title right now is Consort? To be honest I’m still kind of unclear about that one. I think Zuko’s mom had the title of Firelady.”

“I think you’d make a great Firelady,” Katara teased, “I’m sure some of the girls in the palace can give you make-up tips.”

“Hey, I can do my own makeup, thank you very much.”

After that, the conversation drifted. They talked a little bit about Cranefish town and how things were coming along there, as well as Toph’s metalbending school.

A little while before the food was brought out, Sokka felt a presence behind him and turned to see Mai patiently standing.

“I need to talk to you.”

The other three at the moment were busy laughing at some joke Aang had told, so Sokka nodded and followed as Mai began to walk away.

She brought him to a quieter corner, by the entrance to the courtyard. Before he could ask what was going on, she turned and spoke to him in that boring, calm tone of hers.

“You don’t want to marry Zuko.”

“I– wait, what?” Sokka asked, trying  _ really  _ hard to get a grasp on the situation.

“You don’t want to marry Zuko,” Mai repeated, as if he had simply misheard.

“No, I got that,” Sokka assured her, “But what do you  _ mean _ ? Like, do I personally not want to marry Zuko and have been kinda forced into an arranged marriage? Or is it a bad idea in general to marry Zuko?”

“The first one.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes, “Did Zuko tell you?”

“No. But I know what it’s like to be uncomfortable in this kind of setting.”

Okay, Sokka was getting  _ very  _ uncomfortable. Before this, he had said maybe like, ten words to Mai,  _ tops _ , and they had never ever been left alone together. It wasn’t that they didn’t like each other, they just...clashed. Sokka was all about jokes and Mai was so quiet and dreary. Zuko had once told him that Mai thought Sokka was funny, but he’d never in his life seen the woman smile.

When Sokka didn’t respond to her, Mai sighed and rolled her eyes, “Look, I know this is uncomfortable, but I thought I might offer you some advice. As Zuko’s ex and as someone who grew up in nobility.”

“Um, okay. I appreciate advice.”

“Fire Nation nobility is old-fashioned. I grew up being told to not speak unless spoken to, to be quiet and polite. That’s what most Royal Consorts do too and they’re  _ never  _ involved in important meetings, unless it has to do with their children. Even then, they’re not always involved. I don’t know what it’s going to be like for you because you’re a boy, but be careful. You’re probably going to have to try a couple of times to get your point across, and you’re going to have to word it in a way that makes them think it was Zuko’s idea.”

“Oh. That kinda...sucks,” Sokka admitted, “But will they really be so ignorant? I mean I do have a history of good ideas: the Day of Black Sun, the war balloons, hell, I even planned our entire trip from the South Pole to the final battle of Sozin’s Comet!”

“That’s great, but they won’t care,” Mai told him, “The Advisors, Sages, and other nobles already don’t like you. They don’t like that you’re Water Tribe, they don’t like that you’re a boy, and they certainly don’t like that you helped overthrow Ozai and fought against the Fire Nation. You’re at a disadvantage.”

“Okay yeah this definitely sucks,” Sokka huffed, “So what? Am I just supposed to  _ not  _ say anything?”

“Let Zuko answer for you,” Mai said, “That’s my second piece of advice: help each other. Zuko has a tendency to do things by himself, but it’s not healthy now that he’s running an entire country and cleaning up after a century-long war. You need to help him be Firelord, and he’ll be your voice when the others won’t listen to you. While some of the others don’t like him as Firelord, he’s still the Firelord, and he has the divine right to rule.”

“I like that piece of advice a lot better.”

Amazingly, Mai cracked a small smile, but it disappeared quickly.

“Well, there you go. My mom and I only came here to congratulate you, so I’m going to go home. Good luck, Sokka.”

“Thanks.”

He watched Mai exit the square, her mother waiting for her in the street outside with a handful of servants. Once they left, Sokka shook himself and returned to the party just as food was being placed on the large banquet tables. The crowd had thinned a little bit, but it was still lively.

Sokka took his seat at the head table beside Zuko. To his left were Aang and Katara, while Iroh and Toph sat across from them. Once everyone else was seated, Aang grabbed his glass and stood, using his bending to amplify his voice.

“To two of my best friends!” He said with a grin, holding his glass, “And their engagement! To Sokka and Firelord Zuko!”

The crowd echoed, “To Sokka and Firelord Zuko!” as they raised their glasses, then they began to eat.

Now, Sokka missed the South Pole greatly, but one thing that he would not ever trade was the Fire Nation cuisine. The spices, flavours, and meats were all things he’d never experience in his tundra home. And while Five Flavour Soup would always hold a place in his heart, the food of the Fire Nation just couldn’t be beat.

Servants kept their glasses filled with Fire Wine, so it was no time at all before Sokka felt himself getting dizzy and his cheeks turning pink. Zuko was no better, starting to become more vocal and laughing more. Sokka always liked when Zuko laughed.

Once the food was done, everyone took to the dance floor. Sokka had learned that during the War, dancing had fallen out of practice for the lower classes amongst the Fire Nation, but many nobles still danced. The dancing had become a little more reserved like the ballroom dancing of Ba Sing Se, but Aang had pretty much single-handedly brought back the energy that used to fill every Fire Nation party. Every party they went to, Aang could be seen in the centre of the dance, teaching everyone around him century-old Fire Nation dances. This time was no exception, with Aang performing a dance move that Sokka recognized as the Phoenix Flight. Sure enough, a handful of nobles were following his lead. 

Meanwhile, Zuko and Sokka were with Katara, drinking as they danced hand-in-hand in a way that was traditional for the Water Tribe. The three of them laughed; Katara and Sokka at Zuko’s poor footwork, Zuko at his own mistakes. Then Aang appeared and took Katara’s hand, dragging her away for their own duet.

“They’re always showing us up, even at our own engagement party!” Sokka protested with a laugh, “Just because they use bending moves as dance moves.”

“We could do the same,” Zuko suggested.

“I’m not a bender,” Sokka reminded him.

“No, but you are a swordsman. And so am I.”

Sokka looked at Zuko. He was smiling, his cheeks and ears thoroughly red. Zuko was certainly not in his right mind, and it was doubtful that he would remember anything the next morning.

So of course Sokka grinned, took his hand, and led him to the centre beside Katara and Aang. The two looked surprised at their sudden appearance, but when Sokka and Zuko clumsily bowed to each other, Katara and Aang stepped back.

They each held out their right arms, joining at the wrists as they circled each other. When the music hit a high note, Zuko turned and lunged with his left, but Sokka spun out of the way. He stepped to the side and lunged forward, but Zuko’s hand grabbed his wrist and turned him away. They continued, moving as though their arms were their swords, spinning and swiping and dodging. But as the music went on, it became less of an imaginary sword fight and more like a proper dance as they moved in time with the song. The music sped up and their speed matched it, the two men becoming more in sync with each time the drum was beat. It came naturally, their hands coming together, the world began to fall away.

As the song reached its crescendo, Sokka pulled Zuko in close, stepping back and forth. They flared out, then twirled and pulled back in, ending with Zuko catching Sokka in a dip.

The song ended and cheers filled the quiet, but Sokka could hardly hear it over his own heavy breathing and beating heart. He laughed, still held with his head lower than his feet in Zuko’s arms. When he looked up, he saw that Zuko was redder than before, his eyes wide. Before Sokka could even think about asking what he was thinking, Zuko pulled Sokka up a bit, dropped his head, and kissed him.

Sokka’s only thought was  _ hey, may as well – we’re already engaged _ before wrapping his arms around Zuko’s neck and kissing back.


	7. The Hangover

When Zuko cracked his eyes open, he immediately wished he hadn’t.

Everything came crashing down around him at once – his mouth was dry, his head hurt, his eyes stung, he felt dizzy, and he felt nauseous.

He laid there in his bed for a while, gradually letting his body get used to the hell that he had subjected it to. Meanwhile, he tried to recall the night before.

Very unfortunately for him, Zuko was a blackout drunk. Once he passed a certain point, he didn’t remember anything from the night before. More than once in the four years since becoming Firelord he’d woken up to find that he’d passed a new, ridiculous law. Every now and then he kept the law in order (Aang rather liked the law that stated that it was illegal to kill spirits).

Despite his best efforts, the latest Zuko could recall from the party was his conversation with his uncle. He closed his eyes, thinking back on it…

“Is everything alright, Uncle?”

Iroh had dragged him to a quieter, darker corner of the party, where they could speak in private.

“Everything is fine,” Iroh assured him kindly, “I just wanted to talk to you about tonight. Your speech was wonderful, but I’m afraid it’s not what the people want to hear. These people are old-fashioned and reluctant to embrace the world you are creating for them.”

“So, what?” Zuko asked, “They’re angry I’m trying to make a good relationship with the Water Tribes?”

“More or less, yes,” Iroh said, “They’re also displeased with the means of said bonds.”

“They’re upset because I’m marrying Sokka,” Zuko realized.

“Yes,” Iroh agreed sadly, “Much of that stems from outdated ideas, but it also comes from selfish desires. Many of the noble families here have children that would be great candidates for Royal Consort. In fact, before today, many of them were most likely still expecting to be able to make a deal for your hand in marriage.”

“Well, they had four years,” Zuko pointed out, “It’s not likeI was involved with anyone else during that time.”

“True, but you were also busy travelling with the Avatar and cleaning up the mess your forefathers left you. By the time you finally began to settle, the Advisors were likely already discussing your marriage.”

“Nice to know I never had a choice to begin with.”

“I know this is still difficult for you to grasp,” Iroh said softly, placing a hand on Zuko’s shoulder comfortingly, “I will admit that this amount of control is unusual for the Firelord and is probably due to the fact that you are so young and radical. The Sages and Advisors want to believe that they can control you. That is really what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Control me?” Zuko asked, “Uncle, what do you mean? Am I going to have another coup on my hands?”

“No, not that I know of,” Iroh said, “But you may have something more sinister. During the times I stepped in as interim Firelord, I noticed that the Advisors were quick to follow my decisions and rarely questioned me. But when I see them interact with you, I know that is not the case. You see, the Advisors only have the Fire Nation in their minds, while you are thinking of the whole world. You see more than what they do, and they cannot understand that, especially from someone so young. Our nation has become so patriotic that we lose sight of anything beyond our borders. This marriage to the Water Tribe was never meant to strengthen our bond.”

“It was to get control over them,” Zuko realized, “They wanted me to marry nobility so I would have reign over the Water Tribe, or at least influence. But that won’t work – don’t they know that?”

“Dear nephew, these men know of nothing but manipulation and power,” Iroh said sadly, “They cannot understand a community like the Southern Water Tribe that relies on community more than a hierarchy.”

“I’ll make them understand,” Zuko declared, “They can’t use me as their dumb little puppet. I vowed to put this war behind us and create a new world based on peace and love. I will not go back on my word.”

“I don’t doubt you, and that stubborn heart of yours is what’s going to make the Advisors second guess everything they say to you. So long as you know what you want and you listen to the rest of the world, you cannot be controlled.”

Then Iroh grinned and clapped both hands on Zuko’s shoulders, “Enough about politics for now. We should celebrate your engagement!”   
  


Zuko was glad that he remembered that conversation. No doubt what his uncle said was true, so he would have to watch himself around the Advisors.

But at that moment, he needed to drink enough water to fill Lake Laogai.

With a hearty groan, he forced himself out of bed. He felt like he was back to wandering the Earth Kingdom during his banishment – sore, tired, hot, and so very thirsty.

Thankfully, he had a water pitcher in his chamber. Even better, it was cold. He didn’t even pour himself a glass – just drank it straight from the pitcher.

_ I’m the Firelord. I can do what I want. _

Once he finished, he set the pitcher down and took a deep breath. He was no longer thirsty, and the water had helped a little bit with his nausea, but he still had a bad headache and he was rather tired. As he was considering what to do next, he heard a gentle knock on his door.

“Come in,” he called out in a raspy voice. Spirits, it even hurt to speak.

He turned as the door opened and he saw Sokka enter, carrying a plate of fruit. 

“I thought I would be a good fiancé and bring you breakfast in bed,” Sokka said cheerfully, “I even waited until noon to make sure you got a good night’s rest.”

“Is it noon already?” Zuko asked, then he sighed, “Please tell me I don’t have anything planned for today.”

“You don’t,” Sokka replied, sitting on the seat at the foot of Zuko’s bed and plucking a grape, “Half the city is just as hungover as you are, including the Advisors. You’ve got some time to recover.”

“Perfect.” Zuko sat down beside Sokka with the tray of fruit between them. He noticed that Sokka was still in his own sleep clothes, his hair tied in a loose ponytail, stray hairs escaping and framing his face.

Zuko’s own hair had reached down past his shoulders and he was sure it was a rats’ nest, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. Instead, he helped himself to a strawberry.

“So…” Sokka said after a bit, “Do you remember anything from last night?”

“Not really,” Zuko admitted, “Everything after dinner is a blur. I think we danced? After that it’s just  _ nothing. _ ”

“Do you remember anything about the dance?” Sokka prompted.

Zuko thought about it for a moment before shaking his head gently, “No. To be entirely honest, I think I blacked out maybe halfway through. Why, did something happen?”

“Oh, no. Well, you did set Aang on fire briefly before Katara had to put it out.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” Sokka assured him, “It was just his robes, and he was laughing too hard to put it out himself. Oh yeah, you know that really fat noble? I think he’s big in meat exports?”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Well he got so drunk he tripped over his own feet and fell flat on one of the tables. He broke it in half!”

Zuko laughed at that, but only barely, because it made his head hurt a lot.

“I hate laughing.”

“No you don’t,” Sokka replied easily, “You just hate being hungover.”

“Fair. Hey, why aren’t you hungover?”

“Because I didn’t drink myself to the point of blacking out and challenging Katara to an Agni Kai.”

“Oh Spirits. Did I actually do that?  _ Why  _ would I challenge her to an Agni Kai?”

“She made fun of your dancing. I  _ think  _ you meant to challenge her to a dance-off, but you called it an Agni Kai.”

“...So what happened?”

“Aang and I had to stop the two of you from trying to actually fight. I think you were trying for a dance-off, but Katara was down for an Agni Kai.”

“How? She’s a Waterbender. It’s physically impossible for her to participate in an Agni Kai.”

“It’s Katara. She would’ve found a way.”

“That’s...actually a very good point. I mean, technically speaking, she did win the last Agni Kai I was in.”

“Does that make her Firelord?”

“If she wants the title, she can have it.”

“Sorry Zuko, none of us wanna spend the rest of our days running a nation and cleaning up Ozai’s mess. That’s your destiny.”

“Oh yeah?” Zuko raised an eyebrow, “So what’s your destiny?”

“To fulfill my duties as your husband,” Sokka joked, “Which means filling your dreary court days with laughter.” To accent his point, he flicked a berry at Zuko. It hit him square in the face and he swatted at Sokka half-heartedly before stopping.

“ _ Oh... _ I need to stop drinking so much. I feel like I’ve crawled out of the ocean after being blown up by pirates.”

“That rough, huh? Well, Katara is up, but she’ll need some time to recover. Aang is up, and Toph –”

“Is here as your wakeup call!”

They both jumped at the sudden yell and the sound of the door slamming open, a dent in the centre of it.

“My door!” Zuko protested before groaning and clutching his head.

“Relax, Hotman. I can fix it. Iroh told me to come and get you for tea and breakfast. So you two fuckheads better get dressed!”

“Can you be quiet for  _ once _ in your life?” Zuko complained, “Show some respect for the Firelord.”

“Too bad I’m Earth Kingdom and don’t give a shit. Now c’mon, ZUKO!” Toph yelled with a grin before slamming the door behind her as she left.

“I’m going to kill her,” Zuko promised.

“I don’t think you’ve ever actually tried to kill Toph,” Sokka mused, moving to a mirror in Zuko’s room and beginning to brush his hair back into a proper ponytail, “She joined Team Avatar after you were named a traitor.”

“Maybe I should try to kill her, just to make her feel included.” Then Zuko moaned and leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. While he greatly enjoyed parties, he always hated the morning after.

“C’mon,” Sokka said, obviously trying not to laugh, “If we don’t hurry she’ll come back. Maybe with company.”

“I just want to  _ sleep. _ ”

“Tea will be good,” Sokka said, moving to sit on Zuko’s bed behind him, “Now put your head up so I can brush your hair.”

Zuko glanced at Sokka in confusion, “Why would you brush my hair?”

“Because it looks like a mess, and you’re obviously not gonna do it.”

“Just leave it.”

“And have both of us get chewed out by every Advisor we pass?” Sokka scoffed, “No thanks. I promise I’ll be gentle.”

Too lazy to fight Sokka or do his own hair, Zuko obliged. He leaned back and felt the teeth of a comb begin to gently work through his hair. Every time there was a knot, Sokka worked gently at it. His hands were strangely firm, but soft. It was peaceful, enough so to almost put Zuko to sleep.

“There ya go. You can leave it down, but now it actually looks presentable.”

“Thanks,” Zuko said, running his fingers through his hairs. With one final groan, he stood and found his shoes, slipping them on and following Sokka out of his room. He still scowled at the dent in his door – Toph  _ was  _ going to fix that before she left.

The two of them made their way to the gardens were Iroh and the others waited at the outdoor dinner table in the shade, spots saved for them.

“Glad you could join us,” Iroh said cheerfully as he poured two more cups, “I made jasmine – your favourite.”

Zuko mumbled his thanks before taking his seat, Sokka beside him. Aang and Toph looked fine, which made sense – Aang didn’t typically drink a lot, and Toph was oddly immune to hangovers. Katara, however, looked like Zuko felt. Even her hair loopies were crooked, the rest of her hair kept back in a lazy ponytail. She only moaned a greeting and sipped her tea as her brother and Zuko sat down.

“Good to see you up,” Aang said brightly, “I was worried you might not wake up for another day!”

“Tempting,” Zuko grumbled as he sipped his tea. Katara moaned once again, this time in agreement.

“So, how much does he remember from last night?” Toph asked Sokka with a grin, “I know Hotman over here tends to black out.”

“Not much,” Sokka said, “He blacked out about halfway through our dance.”

“Wait,” Aang said, turning to frown at Zuko, “So you don’t remember that you –”

“Challenged Katara to an Agni Kai!” Sokka interrupted loudly, “Nope! He sure doesn’t! He remembers  _ nothing after the dance. _ ”

“Ssshh,” Zuko complained, “Too loud.”

“Too loud,” Katara agreed.

“Wow, you missed a lot,” Toph noted, “Maybe we should fill you in.”

“I already did,” Sokka said quickly, “So no need for you to  _ talk about what happened. _ ”

Toph shrugged and sipped her tea, “If you say so.”

“I’d rather not talk at all,” Zuko admitted, “I think I will spend my day in bed.”

“But it’s such a beautiful day out,” Iroh argued, “You should be enjoying the day.”

“Uncle, I promise that next time my head doesn’t feel like it’s going to split in two, I will enjoy the day. But today, I am going to drink this tea, eat some more fruit, and take a  _ long  _ nap.”

“Maybe Sokka can help you,” Toph chimed in.

“He did. He brought me breakfast this morning.”

“Breakfast in bed, huh?”

“Why did you say it like that?”

“Because Toph is a menace to society,” Sokka decided, glaring at her pointedly.

“Just because we’re engaged doesn’t mean you get a free pass to make gross jokes,” Zuko said.

“What? Like I ever needed permission to do anything?” Toph barked a laugh, “I’m Toph Beifong and I will make as many gross jokes as much as I want and you shits can’t stop me.”

Zuko sighed, “I really regret teaching you swear words.”


	8. The Loser Lord

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all I am SO SO GLAD that y'all're liking this story!!!! Im so excited to write more for it and I really appreciate all of the support!!! also, I finally got m partner to watch Avatar and it's partly bc of this fic so like. hell yeah
> 
> Happy reading:)

Sokka had missed Team Avatar.

All of them had just been so busy within the last year, so it was rare for them to take time to just hang out together. At the moment, they were in a large restaurant near the Palace, in a private room. They laughed together and ate in privacy while Momo stole food, something they hadn't done in  _ ages. _

“You should have  _ seen  _ the man’s face!” Aang said excitedly, “He was  _ convinced  _ that I was just an actor who was a really good acrobat. When he realized that I was actually the Avatar, he almost passed out.”

“I never understand why people don’t believe you when you say you’re the Avatar,” Katara mused, “I mean, you’re the last Airbender, so no one else has the tattoos. Those are pretty easy to tell if they’re real or not.”

“You’d be surprised,” Zuko said, “Lots of people don’t recognize me if I leave my hair down. You’d think the scar on my face would be a dead giveaway, especially since most Fire Nation nobles were there when I got it.”

“Oh yeah,” Toph spoke up, “How did you get your scar?”

“You don’t know?” Zuko asked, “It’s pretty public information.”

“Maybe in the Fire Nation,” Sokka said, “but we never heard of it during our travels.”

“I remember you talking about it in Ba Sing Se,” Katara recalled, “but you didn’t say how you got it. What happened?”

Zuko was sitting beside Sokka at the table, so he could see the Firelord tense up a bit as he looked around the room at each of their friends before sighing.

“It’s not a pleasant story.”

“You don’t have to tell it,” Aang offered, “if you don’t want to.”

“No,” Zuko said, “you deserve to know.” Zuko took a sip of his drink and a deep breath before talking again, the table silent, “It happened when I was thirteen. Father had this big war meeting, and I begged Uncle to let me sit in. He agreed, on the condition that I stayed quiet. But one of the generals….he had this plan. He wanted to send out newly trained recruits and use them as cannon fodder for the Earth Kingdom. Our own people. I couldn’t keep quiet, so I called him out on it.”

“Good!” Katara said, “You should’ve! That’s a horrible plan!”

“It was,” Zuko agreed, “But by speaking out, I had brought dishonour, and the only way to settle an argument like that was with an Agni Kai. I was dumb, so I ignored my uncle’s advice and I agreed. What I didn’t know was that by speaking out in my father’s war room, it was  _ him  _ I was disrespecting, not the general who had proposed the plan. I unwittingly challenged my own father to an Agni Kai.”

The room was still as the people around the table waited for Zuko to collect his breath.

Everyone in Team Avatar knew that Firelord Ozai had been just as poor a father as he had a person in general. Zuko didn’t talk about it often because he was rather private by nature, but he’d let slip moments from his childhood. When they’d aided him on his search for his mother, Zuko had told them about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance; how Firelord Azulon had commanded Ozai to kill Zuko as punishment for betraying Iroh, how Ursa had learned and offered to help kill Azulon and leave the castle if it meant that Zuko would be spared. They’d all heard that Azula was born lucky, but Zuko was lucky to be born. But they had never heard  _ this. _

When Zuko spoke again, Sokka laid a hand on his back to comfort him.

“I apologized and begged my father for mercy, but he wouldn’t have it. He said I had dishonoured him and myself – that I would learn respect, and suffering would be my teacher.” Zuko’s hand drifted up to his scar, the way it often did whenever he spoke about his father, “There are two ways to end an Agni Kai: by trapping your opponent or burning them. My father has never been big on mercy.”

Zuko seemed to space out for a second, his fingers gently touching the deepest red near his damaged eye. Then he took a breath and placed his hand back in his lap, “After that, I was banished and dishonoured. My father said that the only way for me to regain my honour and my throne would be to find and capture the Avatar. I see now that he never meant for me to actually accomplish my goal.”

“...But you did,” Sokka realized.

“Uh, Sokka, last time I checked, I wasn’t in chains,” Aang said, “Zuko never actually succeeded to capture me and bring me back to the Fire Nation. Uh, no offense Zuko.”

“No, I never stood a chance. Sokka, what are you talking about?”

“Well, you  _ did  _ find the Avatar,” Sokka explained, “and you did bring him to your father. If it weren’t for you, Aang would never have learned Firebending, plus he was able to meet the Lion Turtle because we were staying at your beach house on Ember Island, which took him to the place Ozai would be. And now that you’re on the throne, every time you invite Aang over, technically speaking, you’re bringing the Avatar to the Firelord.”

Zuko stared at him for a moment before Sokka’s words truly dawned on him, then he smiled, “Hey, I guess you’re right.” Then he turned to Aang, “So, Avatar, I guess I did beat you after all.”

“Did you really beat me if I came willingly though?” Aang challenged.

This quickly dissolved into a heated debate about whether or not Zuko really had achieved his goal of capturing the Avatar. Sokka weighed in and laughed along, but in his mind, he was thinking of a private errand he’d have to run later that night.

* * *

He waited until after the sun set. Zuko was always more tired in the dark, so he was less likely to question Sokka. Which was good, because Sokka wasn’t all that willing to lie to his fiancé about his destination.

He’d been to the Royal Fire Nation prison only once before. He knew it was similar to the Boiling Rock in that it hosted high-profile criminals, usually Firebenders. It was far more strict though, and had a limited number of cells.

Towards the beginning of his reign, Zuko had brought all of Team Avatar to Ozai’s cell. He had requested to meet them, no doubt to belittle them. Though it very quickly turned into a roast-session that left Ozai swearing that he would return to the throne and get his bending back, to which Aang actually taunted him with “What, you mean  _ this  _ bending?” and then spun away on his Fire Scooter (his pants were on fire and Katara had to put him out once he was out of the cell). 

Sokka had not been back since, but he knew the cell was at the very top. 

When he reached the door, the guards stopped him, crossing their spears and scowling at him from behind their helmets.

“Who are you? Only authorized personnel can go any further.”

Sokka had borrowed a travelling cloak from Zuko to blend in, and he took off his hood. Sokka had also made a point to wear his crown, so there was no doubt of his status.

“I am Sokka of the Water Tribe,” he said calmly, “I’d like to see Ozai.”

The two guards glanced at each other before the one on the right spoke.

“I’m afraid I cannot let you any further without express permission from the Firelord.”

“Alright,” Sokka said with a heavy sigh, “Guess I’ll just have to let Firelord Zuko know that you turned his fiancé away from seeing his father-in-law. I’m sure he’ll be  _ real  _ happy to hear that.”

“Wait,” the second guard said, “our apologies. We forgot about the engagement.”

Sokka allowed himself a small smile as the guards parted and let him through. He made his way up the many floors, receiving no trouble from the guards. Every time one saw him, they opened their mouths, then saw his hair ornament, shut their mouth, and continued on their way.

Being Fire Nation royalty certainly had its perks.

Finally, he reached Ozai’s cell. The guard in front looked at him strangely when Sokka stopped.

“I’d like to go in.”

“No one is allowed to enter except the Firelord.”

“Not even the man that helped the Firelord come to power?”

“No.”

“What about the guy that discovered the Avatar?”

“No.”

“What about the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador?”

“No. Leave.”

“Alright. One last question – can the Firelord’s consort enter?”

The guard opened his mouth to say something, then noticed the flame in Sokka’s hair, his royal robe. Sokka made sure to hold himself with decorum, in the way that was expected of Fire Nation nobility.

Finally, the guard sighed, “You may enter.”

“Thank you,” Sokka said cheerfully as the guard unlocked the cell and allowed Sokka into the room. It was dark, with only one torch to light it. 

Ozai looked the same as he had three years ago: long, matted hair; ratted brown robes; pale and gaunt skin; deep scowl that only deepened when he saw Sokka.

“What do you want?” Ozai demanded, his voice raspy and tired.

“To talk,” Sokka replied easily, sitting in the chair facing Ozai’s cell, “And to gloat a little. Been meaning to do that for a while.”

“What does a peasant like you have to gloat about?” Ozai mocked, “What can you say to a king to make yourself seem impressive?”

“Well, first off,” Sokka began calmly, holding up one of his fingers, “I’m not a peasant. I’m the son of Chief Hakoda, leader of the Southern Water Tribe. Technically speaking, I am a prince, though our tribe doesn’t place strong values in a hierarchy. Secondly–” he held up a second finger “–even if you didn’t accept that as royalty, you’re gonna have to now. I’m marrying into a royal family. Your family, in fact.”

Ozai’s scowl deepened, “I thought Azula was still banished.”

“She is,” Sokka admitted, “She’s not allowed anywhere near the Fire Nation or its colonies.”

“So you’re not marrying into the family. You have no right to wear that ornament.”

“I do, actually. It’s your son I am marrying.”

Ozai’s face first twisted into confusion, then understanding, then anger, until it finally reached disgust.

“You  _ dare _ –”

“I don’t actually. Neither of us do. It was my father and Chief Arnook that worked with your Royal Advisors to arrange this marriage. I’m surprised you hadn’t heard sooner – there was a big party and everything.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Ozai said, “My son can do little to dishonour himself and his nation further – marrying a man is nothing compared to the way he runs this country.”

“Oh yeah, that’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about.” Sokka leaned forward so his elbows rested on his legs as he scowled down at Ozai. Now, Sokka was a pretty damn cheerful dude – it was part of his core, to be the meat and sarcasm guy. However, in the four years since the war ended, he and the rest of Team Avatar had grown up. Everyone filled into their bodies more, and they looked far more like adults than the kids they had been when they entered battle. More than once, Sokka had been told by advisors or nobility that he had a threatening air about him, that  _ everyone  _ in their group did. He supposed that it came with ending a century-long war and experiencing unique trauma.

Everyone in Team Avatar used their intimidation differently. Toph probably used it the most because she loved throwing her weight around and causing problems that didn’t need solving because she was Toph Beifong and no one could do anything about it. Zuko used his intimidation a lot as well because the Advisors, Sages, and Generals tended to listen to him when they were a little scared. Slowly but surely they were working away from fear and more towards respect. Katara didn’t intimidate people often, unless it was to win an argument. Aang probably used his intimidation the least, actively trying to make himself more relatable.

Sokka was closest to Aang in that aspect – while he appreciated the respect that came with intimidation, it was far more important that people liked him. 

But Sokka didn’t need Ozai to like him. 

“Zuko is happy,” Sokka began coldly, “and the Fire Nation is thriving under his rule. The world hasn’t been in such a promising state in over a hundred years. We are fixing the mess you have left us and  _ we are happy.” _

“What does it matter to me if you are happy?” Ozai asked, though his voice lacked some of that icy tone.

“Because it means you failed. You got your ass handed to you by a twelve year-old pacifist monk. A little blind girl and two nonbenders destroyed your biggest and most powerful airships in a couple of hours. Princess Azula – your pride and joy – was beat by the last Waterbender of the Southern Tribe who was mostly self-taught. And now, your so-called disgraced son has taken your throne and led the world into an era of peace and kindness – the very things you tried to rid the world of. You did everything in your power to make your son’s life miserable and you failed at that too. He’s happy now, he’s created a thriving nation, and he gets to marry one of his best friends. The best part?” Sokka grinned, “There’s nothing you can do about it, Loser Lord.”

Sokka took great pleasure in the way that Ozai’s eyes widened. Either in fear or anger or maybe both, Sokka couldn’t tell. Either way, he relished the moment.

“Well, I think I’m done gloating for now,” he said, back to being pleasant, “You have yourself a good night, Ozai.”

On his way back to the Palace, Sokka knew that he wasn’t going to sleep. He was glad that he had the chance to give Ozai some shit, but his mind was still reeling; both from the conversation and Zuko’s story about how he got his scar. He doubted that he was going to get much sleep, so he decided to try and work on a project that his father had presented him with before he left.

In fact, he was excited to finish it.


	9. Looks Better Already

“You know, this throne room is awfully dark.”

Zuko shrugged, “I guess so. I never really thought about it before.”

The two of them were in the throne room, with Zuko sat on his throne and Aang hovering behind him as they looked over some plans for establishing peace in the Earth Kingdom. They’d faced a fair amount of issues since the war had ended, since the earlier colonies had long-term residents of the Fire Nation that had lived there for generations. Most of the colonies that were established within the last fifteen years or so of the war were easy enough, and most troops pulled out quickly. But colonies that had been there for almost a hundred years were a lot harder to deal with. Aang and Zuko had decided that whatever colonies  _ wanted  _ to stay mixed could, and they would figure out those that were still divided.

“It didn’t use to be like this,” Aang continued, taking a break to sit beside Zuko and look around the room, “When Roku told me the story of him and Sozin, it was a lot brighter. Those walls over there had big fancy windows and lots of sunlight, and there was a massive golden dragon behind the throne. Not as creepy as the one now – much more approachable. I don’t know how you spend so much time in here.”

“I try not to,” Zuko admitted, “I try to actually talk to the people and deal with things myself. Besides, it’s so miserable I can’t stand to be in here by myself.”

“Right,” Aang said, probably remembering the story that Zuko had told them the night before. Things had turned back to normal once they started joking around, but Zuko knew that they were all thinking about his story. 

Zuko was honestly surprised that they didn’t know. The story of his failed Agni Kai and subsequent banishment had spread like wildfire through the Fire Nation and her colonies in the Earth Kingdom. He’d thought that Toph would at least know, but she did spend most of her childhood in an extremely sheltered home.

“Hey!” Aang said suddenly, “Why don’t we renovate it!”

“We could,” Zuko mused, rifling through a handful of papers, “Since the war is over and the Fire Nation has a lot of leftover ships and balloons, our budget has been freed up a lot. Of course, I’ve been spending a lot of it in a reconciliation effort with the rest of the world, but war is expensive, so we certainly have some funds to burn.”

“And you certainly need a change,” Aang agreed, “You want to make yourself more approachable, right? So why not have the throne room reflect that? Last time it was remodelled was when the war began, so it makes sense to change it again.”

“You make a great point. I’ll make sure to bring it up to the Advisors later today. Any suggestions?”

“The open walls with lots of sunlight looked really nice in Roku’s memories,” Aang suggested, “and the throne had wider steps so it was easier to access. Also the dragon.”

“A dragon would look cool.”

They both looked up at Sokka’s remark. He was back in his regular Water Tribe garb, his hair in his typical wolf tail. His hair, much like Zuko’s own, had grown longer – when it was up, it reached the nape of his neck, and the sides of his head were shaved. Zuko was a little disappointed to see that Sokka wasn’t wearing his hair ornament, though he wasn’t sure  _ why  _ he was disappointed.

“Hey, Sokka!” Aang greeted, “C’mere, we were just talking about remodelling the throne room.”

Zuko lowered the flames in front of the throne so that Sokka could pass through, and Sokka came to stand beside Aang.

“Yeah, this room kind of sucks,” Sokka declared, “I like Aang’s idea of big windows. And you have so much space that’s wasted on these columns. Maybe you should spread them out a little more, and make it so that instead of torches, the fire wraps around the poles. It’ll look way cooler that way.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” Aang agreed excitedly, “I think this would look great! I’m gonna go find Katara and Toph and see what they think!”

Before they could say anything else, Aang rushed out of the throne room. Sokka laughed a little and Zuko smiled before turning to Sokka.

“So, what brings you to my throne room?”

“Can I not visit my fiancé?” Sokka teased, sitting down at the right hand of the throne, “I thought you and Aang might need some cheering up.”

“It’s certainly appreciated,” Zuko admitted, carefully sorting the scrolls into neat piles, “Creating this new world is amazing and I love to see the progress we make, but it’s exhausting.”

“Oh, I bet.” Then Sokka shifted in his seat a bit, “And uh, I actually came here to give you something. An engagement gift.”

Then he reached in and pulled something from a leather pouch on his belt. When he held it out, Zuko saw what it was.

“A...necklace? It looks like Katara’s.”

And it did; it had a silky blue ribbon with a blue pendant in the centre. Except instead of a circle carved with the symbol of the Water Tribe, it was the flame of the Fire Nation. Gently, Zuko took it, looking at it more carefully. It was clearly carved by Sokka – the edges were a little rough, and the detailed lines in the symbol of fire were kind of wobbly.

“Yeah,” Sokka said, watching Zuko turn the necklace over, “It’s sort of a tradition in the Water Tribe – well, Northern mostly, it kinda died out in my tribe.”

Zuko looked up and frowned, “Tradition?”

“When you’re engaged,” Sokka explained, “it’s traditional for the grooms, or one of them, to carve a betrothal necklace.”

“Wait…” Zuko said, “So Katara is  _ engaged _ ? She’s had that necklace for years, when did she get engaged?”

“Oh, no,” Sokka said with a laugh, “Like I said, the tradition kind of died out in our tribe. That necklace was carved by Master Pakku for our Gran Gran, but she left for the Southern Water Tribe. She gave it to our mom, who gave it to Katara. But this one –” he gestured to the necklace in Zuko’s hands “– is a betrothal necklace. My dad gave me the ribbon, stone, and tools before he left. I carved it myself, finished it last night.” Sokka hesitated for a moment before asking shyly, “Do...you like it?”

“I love it,” Zuko answered truthfully, “And I think it’s a great idea – to make the engagement official for both our nations. It’ll prove the point that this is about both our nations, not just the Fire Nation.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Sokka said excitedly, “I wear the Royal Consort crown, and you wear a betrothal necklace. Here, do you wanna see if it fits? I’m worried the ribbon might be too short.”

“Sure, can you tie it on?”

Zuko handed the necklace back to Sokka and pulled his hair to the side. Since growing it out, he’d started wearing it in the traditional style with half up, half down. Sokka moved to sit beside him and carefully drew the necklace around Zuko’s throat. He tried not to think too hard about the way his calloused fingers brushed against the back of his neck, or how it sent little chills down his spine. He just hoped that Sokka didn’t notice.

“Is that too tight?”

“No, it feels alright.”

“Okay, it’s tied.”

Sokka moved back to his spot beside Zuko to look at the necklace, obviously checking it out.

“How does it look?” Zuko asked, lifting a hand up to touch it gently. The cool stone felt nice.

“Amazing,” Sokka said softly, then his eyes widened and he leaned back a bit, “On you, I mean! I did a pretty damn good job, and blue looks good on you.”

Zuko smiled, “You think so?”

“Yeah, anything looks good on you.”

Before either of them could really process what Sokka just said, Toph came storming into the room with a feral grin, followed by Katara and Aang.

“So Twinkle Toes over here just told me you plan on remodelling the throne room! I’m here to lend a metalbending hand!”

“No, wait!” Zuko protested as Toph got her grubby hands around one of the columns, “We’re just discussing it don’t –”

But Toph seemed to switch out her blindness to become deaf for a moment, because she completely ignored Zuko and ripped the column out with her bare hands, grinning maniacally. 

“Looks better already!”


	10. Katara's Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all!!! So my province is moving forward into Phase 3 which means I'll be returning to work. This unfortunately means fewer updates, which will become even fewer in a month or so when school starts again. In the meantime, I'll do my best to create these...not at a constant pace bc. don't know how to do that, but I won't leave y'all high and dry without a warning
> 
> Happy Reading:)

It was the last day before Team Avatar once again had to go its separate ways.

Of course, Sokka and Zuko would be staying in the Fire Nation to continue their duties and oversee progress at the very top. Meanwhile, Aang and Katara would head back to Crawfish Town. They wanted to finish their business there before moving on to another area in the Earth Kingdom. As for Toph, she was going back to her metalbending school.

The five of them spent the day together, wandering around the Capital City. They’d worn Fire Nation clothes for the day and amazingly, people didn’t recognize them.

Well, Aang was wearing a hat, but they otherwise weren’t making a conscious effort to disguise themselves. It was a nice spring day, and the breeze that blew in refreshed them greatly. They shopped at the local bazaar where Aang bartered for every single thing he bought. Zuko didn’t buy everything – he already had everything he needed plus some – but he did help Sokka. He did have to admit that he was really indecisive when buying things, since he was never sure if it was _worth_ buying. But Zuko was a pretty damn good enabler and by the end of it, he’d essentially bought an entire wardrobe.

After that, they returned to the Royal Palace to eat a massive dinner. The cooks had kindly done their best to make dishes from each of their nations. They even made a handful of fruit pies that the Air Nomads used to make. They were really good and sweet, and while Aang agreed, he said they weren’t exactly alike.

“The filling is different,” he explained, waving his hand and pulling the filing up into a spiral shape, “It’s not as light and fluffy. The taste is pretty much almost the same though. How did they make it so exact?”

“Apparently they found an archive of Air Nomad scrolls a hundred years ago,” Zuko explained, “One of the scrolls held a bunch of recipes, which included one for the fruit pies. They were just kept with the rest in the Fire Nation Royal Library. My grandfather Azulon had them kept in the archives, so they aren’t on display to the public.”

“I’m just glad some of the scrolls weren’t destroyed,” Aang said with a smile, “Next time we’re here, I’ll have to check out the archive!”

“I looked through them about a year back,” Zuko said, smiling a bit, “I meant to tell you, but things were so busy it slipped my mind. There’s tons of fascinating information in there – there’s history, literature, economics, and even some diaries. Not a whole lot, but there are some personal accounts.”

“Nerd,” Sokka teased.

“Sokka, you really can’t call people nerds,” Toph said lazily, “You’re the one that spent a full 24 hours creating a schedule for every minute of our trip leading up to the Day of Black Sun.”

“Hey, someone had to organize!” Sokka protested.

Zuko scoffed beside him, “Seriously, every minute?”

“Yeah,” Katara added, “When we stopped to help a village for a couple days, he insisted that we combine our potty breaks with grocery breaks.”

“And it kept us on schedule! Ahead of schedule, actually!”

“Great,” Toph said sarcastically as she speared a dumpling, “Three whole days to sit around and not look at koalasheep and help Twinkle Toes with his nightmares.”

“Nightmares?” Zuko asked, directed at Aang.

“Yeah,” Aang admitted with a little laugh, “I didn’t know firebending _and_ I didn’t have the Avatar State, so I was pretty nervous. For those three days, I had a bunch of weird nightmares that stressed me out. But they ended after I yelled at Firelord Ozai that he was the one not wearing any pants.”

“But…” Zuko frowned, “My father _doesn’t_ wear pants. Most Fire Nation nobility doesn’t – we wear robes?”

“Well yeah, but you know that nightmare where you go somewhere important and you don’t have any pants?” Aang offered.

“No?”

“Seriously?” Sokka asked.

“I’ve never had that nightmare.”

“What about the one where you fall from really high up?” Katara asked, “And when you hit the ground, you wake up?”

“I don’t have a fear of heights.”

“Neither do I,” Toph said, “but I still have that nightmare. What about the one where all your teeth fall out?”

“That sounds disgusting!”

“It is!” Toph said with a grin, “But it’s great for when you wake up and realize they’re all still there.”

“Oh!” Sokka spoke up, “What about the one where you miss an important event because you overslept?”

“I have had that one,” Zuko admitted.

“I had a nightmare that I slept right through the invasion,” Aang said with a little laugh, “It stressed me out so much, I couldn’t sleep!”

Zuko cracked a small smile, “Sometimes, I can’t believe I never succeeded in capturing you, when I hear dumb shit like this. You all did such strange stuff – I remember watching the play and just. I was _so_ confused.”

“What confused you?” Katara asked, “I mean, it was an awful play, but you were there for most of what happened.”

“Not really,” Zuko argued, “I had no idea who Toph even _was_ before I joined the group. During mine and my uncle’s travels, we heard rumours that the Avatar was travelling with a powerful earthbending champion, but no one ever mentioned that Toph was a 12 year-old blind girl! Katara, when you said you might be able to heal my scar, I thought you were actually insane. And Sokka – I thought the whole thing about Princess Yue turning into the moon was a metaphor or something!”

“What?” Sokka cried, “What the hell would that even be a metaphor _for_?”

“I don’t know! I assumed it was just some weird Water Tribe way of saying that someone died or whatever.”

“Well, she _did_ technically die. We buried her body.”

“Yeah but I didn’t know that she _literally_ turned into the moon!”

“Well,” Aang asked, “What do you think happened at the north pole?”

“At the time, all I knew was that Zhao was going to do something to the moon to stop waterbenders from being able to bend. I left that to Uncle while I tried to capture you. I followed you to the Spirit Oasis and grabbed you, then you guys captured me. When we got back to the Oasis, I saw that Zhao was there and I decided to slip away and try again when I wasn’t caught in the middle of his bullshit. The next thing I know, the moon turns red, then disappears, and waterbenders stop bending. And _then_ a giant ocean spirit appears and starts destroying everything. I find Zhao, fight him, then he gets captured by the ocean spirit. It wasn’t until after that when I realized that the moon was back and I assumed Aang and Uncle just did some spirit stuff to bring the moon back. It wasn’t until I saw the play on Ember Island that I figured out that the princess _actually_ turned into the moon!”

“So did you just think we were all insane?” Aang asked with a smile.

“A little, yes. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about you people. It’s not like we really sat down and had a conversation.”

“So were you surprised when you actually met us?” Katara asked, “Were we what you were expecting?”

“Sort of,” Zuko admitted, “I knew Aang probably the best, because I fought him the most. I knew he was a goofy kid but he was also the Avatar and a very skilled bender. I knew Katara was a waterbender but you were self-taught, and that blue necklace meant a lot to you since you were always wearing it. I knew Toph was a powerful earthbender, but I didn’t really put two and two together when we first met because I was expecting someone like the actor in the play.”

“What about me?” Sokka asked eagerly, “What did you think of me?”

Zuko looked away and picked at his food, “Uh, well, I knew you were a nonbender from the Southern Tribe. I figured you were related to Katara somehow.”

“...Is that it?”

“Uh….you had a boomerang.”

“Great!” Sokka exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration, “Nice to know I was known as the nonbender guy with a boomerang!”

“If it’s any consolation,” Zuko offered, “I did remember when we first met. Not very many people hit me in the head with a boomerang.”

“And not very many people invaded my village and demanded to see a hundred-year-old man,” Sokka replied, “So I guess we’re even.”

Amazingly, that made Zuko laugh. Well, it was really more of a chuckle, but any kind of laughter coming from Zuko was so rare, Sokka couldn’t help but grin in response. He felt his stomach sort of flutter at the sound and he found himself thinking how nice Zuko looked when he smiled.

_Oh no._

* * *

Later that evening, Sokka and Katara were wandering through the city. They were still wearing Fire Nation clothes, though they were chatting happily about home and other things.

“I’m gonna miss you guys when you’re all gone again,” Sokka admitted after they’d been walking for a while.

“I’ll miss you too,” Katara replied with a smile, “but we’ll be back in a few months for the wedding. And besides, you won’t be by yourself – you’ll have Zuko.”

Sokka just hummed in response, which earned a frown from Katara.

“Did you two fight again? You seemed alright at dinner.”

“No, nothing like that,” Sokka assured. At that point, they had come to a fountain in a aplaza of shops, but they were all shut down for the night. The fountain was still running through, and surrounded by lanterns that sparkled in the water. The spouts of the fountain were shaped like dragons, the new scales shimmering, creating the illusion that the dragons were actually moving. He and Katara sat down on the edge of the fountain.

“Then what is it? Obviously something’s wrong.”

Despite the plaza being empty, Sokka still looked around to make sure no one was there to overhear them. Then he sighed deeply.

“I... _may_...have a crush on Zuko.”

“Oh.” Katara frowned, “Isn’t that...a good thing? I mean, you are getting married.”

“But he doesn’t even know if he likes guys!” Sokka protested, “Look, you can’t repeat _anything_ of what I’m about to tell you, especially to Zuko, got it?”

“Of course.”

“Right. Well, after we fought, we had a conversation and figured stuff out. Zuko told me that he was gonna do some reflecting, but he’d never had to think about his sexuality before. He also told me that he didn’t think we could be anything more than friends.” Sokka sighed again and held his head in his hands, “What am I gonna do? I don’t want things to get weird between us. I mean, we’re finally in a good spot, since the engagement messed everything up.”

“Maybe wait for Zuko,” Katara offered, resting a gentle hand on Sokka’s shoulder, “You said that he’s doing some reflecting, right? Maybe he decides that he does like men after all, or is at least willing to give it a shot. I mean, he _did_ kiss you at the engagement party.”

“That’s because Zuko was blackout drunk,” Sokka pointed out, “He probably thought I was Mai or something.”

“Fair enough – but I’m saying that you have a chance. But maybe don’t pursue it right now, since Zuko seems to be trying to figure out his own stuff. Wait for him to approach you about his own feelings.”

“But what if he doesn’t?”

Katara shrugged, “Then he probably doesn’t feel the same. If that happens, you’ll figure it out. You both agreed that you were going into this as friends, right? So if it never goes any further than that, then that’s alright.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Sokka leaned back to look up the hill towards the Palace, where Zuko was, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what Zuko does.”


	11. Aang's Advice

“I don’t know what to do.”

Aang sighed at Zuko’s remark before sipping some more of his tea. The two of them sat o a balcony overlooking the Capital City, sharing some jasmine tea and watching the stars come out. Aang and the others would leave in the morning, and though they would be back soon, Zuko wanted to get some advice from the second-wisest person he knew.

“I’m guessing you’re talking about the wedding?” Aang offered.

“Yeah.” Zuko looked down into his tea, half-hoping it would magically offer him the answers he needed, “My thoughts about men...I never really had a chance to sort them out. I’m pretty sure I like girls, I mean I enjoyed my time with Mai, but maybe it was just because it felt like we had to be together. I’m twenty years old now, how am I supposed to just rearrange my entire way of thinking about my sexuality?”

Aang hummed in thought for a moment. Zuko glanced at him and saw the Avatar staring up at the sky, his fingers rubbing the teacup absently.

“I think the best way would be just to try it out,” Aang suggested finally, looking at him with a small smile, “The monks were very open about love and sexuality. In fact, many didn’t really use labels and instead had different kinds of love; romantic love, familial love, platonic love, that sort of thing. Lots of other people used labels and found them very helpful though, as it gave them a sense of community.”

“Where are you going with this?”

Aang huffed a bit, “When I was younger, we were encouraged to try new things all the time, which included exploring our feelings. I was  _ way  _ too young to be really exploring anything sexually, but it was pretty common for Air Nomads to have intercourse with different genders before settling on one’s sexuality.”

“So...you’re saying I should have sex with Sokka to see if I’m gay?”

Aang burst out laughing at this, almost spilling his tea. Momo, who was sleeping in his lap, startled and leapt onto his head.

“What?” Zuko demanded, feeling his face get rather hot, “Don’t laugh at me! That’s basically what you were saying!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Aang said as he calmed down a bit, still smiling, “You just sort of caught me off guard. Anyways, I’m not saying you have to go  _ that  _ far, but maybe you should try things out with Sokka. I mean, you are engaged, and he’s one of your best friends. I can’t really think of someone better to experiment with. For you, at least.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Aang frowned, “Why not?”

“After he interrupted my meeting with the Earth Kingdom tradesmen,” Zuko explained, “We talked things out. I told him that I was still trying to figure out things on my end, and that I doubted we could ever be anything more than friends. Not that we  _ couldn’t _ , but that it was unlikely. Then he said that although he is attracted to many genders, he doesn’t harbour any feelings for me.”

“Oh.” Aang reached up to scratch Momo’s ear, “Are you sure?”

“I’m certain.”

“Well...maybe he didn’t mean anything  _ right now.  _ Who knows, maybe something will happen in the future. Until then, I suggest maybe waiting and trying to figure things out on your own. Maybe look back on your past and see what you might’ve felt towards other men. You could always ask Sokka, since he went through the same thing you did, although it was a lot earlier in life.”

“Yeah. Yeah, that seems like a good plan.” Zuko sipped his tea and looked back towards the city. In the near distance, he could see a spot of light. He recognized it as a plaza of clothing stores. It had originally held a statue of Firelord Ozai which Zuko had taken down shortly after the war ended. The city planners had offered to put a statue of him there instead, but Zuko was still a little uncomfortable with that. Instead, he’d been reminded of a date he’d gone on in Ba Sing Se. It inspired him to order a fountain to be put in place, with master sculptures creating an artful piece for the city.

“I’ll just wait,” Zuko said after a moment, “Until Sokka comes to me about any sudden romantic feelings, I’ll try to figure things out on my own. No need to get him involved.”


	12. The Trip, Pt I: Wulong Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to start off by dedicating this chapter and the next to the user Snaccs_be_gud. I found out earlier this morning that he passed away recently, and I was deeply sad to hear it. I always loved reading his comments, and I'll miss his insight. I know he enjoyed this fic as well as my DabiHawks fic, so I write these chapters with him in mind.
> 
> Happy reading, and stay safe

It was a week before the summer solstice when Zuko received the letter.

Since the throne room was undergoing renovations (at a  _ much  _ sooner date than anticipated, thanks Toph), Zuko had set up a temporary throne room in the banquet hall. Zuko actually found that people were far more likely to approach him truthfully when he didn’t have fire blazing in front of him and he made a note of it for the renovations.

At the moment, Zuko was looking through a handful of letters and important notices. Most of them were plain and repetitive, giving updates on the development of Fire Nation colonies, on what aids he could provide, etc etc.

However, there was one that caught his eye.

The scroll was written on rough paper and sealed with the image of the sun. Rather than being addressed to the Palace of the Firelord (as most non personal letters were), this one was addressed to Firelord Zuko.

Curious, Zuko opened it, seeing red letters. For a moment, he thought the letter had been written in dried blood, but he quickly realized that it was just red ink. After calming down, he read the letter.

_ To the Great and Honourable Firelord Zuko, _

_ It has almost been four years since your visit with the Avatar, and we have heard news of your ascent to the throne, as well as your promise to bring peace and life. It seems as though Ran and Shaw’s teachings were put to use. _

_ I hate to call attention to ourselves, but I have received a vision. I’m sure you remember the golden egg you found when you first arrived? I saw that egg hatching on the Solstice, with you there to guide it. I believe that it is your destiny to guide the egg of Ran and Shaw, so I ask you to return to our city in time for the hatching of the egg. _

_ As always, tell no one. _

_ Best regards, _

_ Chief Aapo. _

Zuko had to read the letter over a handful of times before it really hit him.

The Sun Warriors had summoned him back to their ancient city.

The golden egg that Zuko had touched was an  _ actual  _ dragon egg, possibly the last of its kind.

That dragon egg was hatching.

Zuko was meant to care for the egg.

“I must leave,” Zuko declared suddenly, startling the guards who had previously been dozing off.

“Leave?” One of them asked.

“Yes, I’ve been summoned for an important event on the Solstice, but it’ll take some time to get there. I must leave tonight. Have the kitchen prepare two weeks’ worth of rations and then prepare my balloon. I’m going to pack.”

“Yes, Firelord Zuko.”

As the guards rushed out of the room, Zuko collected the scrolls and placed them in the two baskets he had – one for those he had read, and one for the unopened letters. He took the Sun Warrior’s scroll though, since he couldn’t let anyone see it.

Then, Zuko made his way to his chambers, already making a mental list of all the things he’d need.

His mental list was suddenly interrupted when he bumped into someone.

“Ah, my apologies, I’m in a rush.”

“So I’ve heard.” Sokka grinned and steadied him, “The whole Palace is suddenly in action because you’re going on a trip. Where we going?”

_ As always, tell no one. _

“It’s not important,” Zuko lied, moving to sidestep Sokka, “I just have to go by myself.”

“Whoa!” Sokka snatched his hand out and grabbed Zuko’s arm, stopping him in his tracks, “Not important? Aren’t you going for two weeks?”

Zuko pursed his lips as he looked at Sokka. The two had been friends for years and one of the first things he’d learned about Sokka was that he was stubborn – when he set his mind to something,  _ it got done. _ Just then, he realized that Sokka was wearing his mother’s hair ornament.

“I can’t tell you,” Zuko finally admitted, “I swore not to tell anyone, to protect some people. Those people have called me to help them, and I have to go alone.”

“Nope.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said  _ nope. _ ” Sokka shrugged, “You might be able to keep this secret from everyone else, but not from me. I’m your fiancé, remember? So, we’re taking this trip together. I’ll even help you pack.”

“Sokka, I swore not to tell  _ anyone, _ ” Zuko insisted, “That includes you. You can’t come.”

“Alright, fine. Does that mean I’m Interim Firelord?”

“No! Absolutely not!”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

Zuko groaned in frustration before snatching his arm away from Sokka, “Argh! Fine! We leave tonight at sunset.”

Sokka grinned, “Perfect! I’ll get the swords!”

* * *

Zuko kind of hoped that Sokka would change his mind and stay behind. He held onto that hope right up until the setting of the sun, when Sokka came to the balloon carrying his own sack of clothes and other goods.

“You really aren’t going to stay here, are you?”

Sokka shook his head, “No way.”

“What if I order you to stay?”

“I’m not technically a citizen of the Fire Nation,” Sokka pointed out cheerfully as he boarded Zuko’s balloon, “So you can’t really tell me what to do.”

“What about as your husband-to-be?”

Sokka laughed and he slapped a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, “Oh, you  _ definitely  _ can’t boss me around as a husband.”

Zuko sighed heavily as he locked the door behind Sokka, “Alright, fine. Hold onto something, we’re gonna take off.”

“Yes, sir.”

A handful of servants had come to see them off, as well as the Elder Advisor. He stood silently, watching as Zuko prepared the balloon for take off. Once it started to rise, Sokka started the engine and the servants waved, wishing them safe travels. In no time at all, the Royal Palace and the Capital City looked like children’s toys, and it was just Sokka, Zuko, and the open sky.

For a while, they flew in comfortable silence. That was one thing Zuko had always appreciated about Sokka – while he was boisterous and had a great sense of humour, he also knew how to appreciate the quiet moments.

About two hours or so into the flight, Sokka finally spoke up.

“I saw you marked the map where to go – shouldn’t we be heading North instead of NorthEast?”

“I don’t want to take a direct path there,” Zuko explained, “It’s safer to make a couple of stops. I’m planning on making camp at the Western Air Temple.”

“Right – but you see the storm brewing on the horizon, right?”

Zuko looked up from the bellows of the balloon to see that Sokka was right. The sky was clear, which was a perfect night for flying, but there was a gathering of clouds in the distance to the north.

“You’re right – we need to make camp sooner, I don’t think we’ll be able to make it to the Temple.”

“The Wulong Forest is nearby, that’ll give us tons of cover from the storm.”

“Good idea.” Zuko changed their course to follow Sokka’s suggestion, glad for the other man’s company.

“This sure feels familiar,” Sokka spoke up then. Zuko turned back to see him staring dreamily out into the sky, “When the two of us went to the Boiling Rock.” Sokka chuckled, “That was fun.”

“Fun?” Zuko asked, “We broke into a prison. I was actually  _ put  _ in prison for my crimes against the Fire Nation and I had to face Mai’s uncle. Then we almost got our asses handed to us by Azula. You call that  _ fun _ ?”

“Maybe not those parts,” Sokka argued, “But you have to admit it was pretty awesome to be the only ones to have broken out of the Boiling Rock.”

“Alright,” Zuko admitted, “that was...kind of awesome.”

“We made a really good team back there,” Sokka continued, somewhat wistfully, “I was so used to making plans and doing my best to stick to them, so it was a good change to kind of just play it by year.”

“And I never do well with plans, but yours worked out pretty well, even if my sister did almost kill us.”

“Yeah, but your sister almost killed us a lot, I can’t really be held responsible for that.”

Zuko smiled, “Yeah, I guess so.”

They fell into silence again, with Sokka checking over their supplies and the map. The balloon was well on course, so Zuko took a moment to look at the moon.

It was full, its brightness shining down on the waves far below them. While Zuko far preferred the day, he had to admit the moon was beautiful.

Which suddenly reminded him….

“What was she like?”

Sokka looked up from the map, “What was who like?”

“Yue.”

“Oh.” Sokka’s face became...complicated. He stood from his spot to stand beside Zuko, leaning on the railing a bit to look up at the moon, “Well, she was sweet, and funny, and compassionate, and selfless. She was beautiful too – probably the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Not that Suki isn’t pretty, of course! But…”

“She wasn’t Yue?”

Sokka shook his head, “No one was. Her hair was like silver, and her eyes were like the ocean on a sunny day. She reminded me a lot of home.”

“Do you still love her?”

The question left Zuko’s mouth before he really had the chance to think about it. The moment he asked it, he mentally kicked himself – what the hell was he saying?

“Yeah,” Sokka admitted sadly, “I think things would’ve been different if we broke up because I had to continue my quest with Aang, but that didn’t happen. She died, and that only leaves me wondering,  _ what if _ , you know?”

“What you would’ve been if she hadn’t died?” Zuko asked.

Sokka nodded, “Yeah. I mean, I can’t wonder that much, because she was already engaged to Hahn when we met. I know Chief Arnook respected me, but I don’t think he would’ve broken off their engagement for me.”

“He would’ve.”

Sokka turned to him with a confused smile, “I appreciate the optimism Zuko, but we both know that’s a lie.”

“It’s not,” Zuko argued, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this...but I spoke with a couple of advisors. During the first meeting, Chief Arnook said that if things had turned out differently, he would have promised you to Yue instead of Hahn. Apparently it was his high opinion of you that helped sway the advisors into this arrangement.”

Sokka looked at him for a moment, then he laughed and turned back to the moon, “You know, I can’t decide whether that’s better or worse. Good to know I had a chance, but it also  _ sucks  _ to know that I lost that chance.”

“I’m...sorry?”

“Don’t be,” Sokka assured, “I probably would’ve found out eventually.”

“Right….”

After that, they flew in silence again, this time a little heavier.

It wasn’t until they were over the forest and beginning their descent that Sokka spoke again.

“You know, the last time I was here, I destroyed a ton of airships with Suki and Toph. Ah, memories.”

“I remember you telling me about that – I’m honestly really impressed you were able to do that much damage.”

“It’s really thanks to Toph’s metalbending and Suki’s quick thinking,” Sokka admitted, then he laughed, “Man, metalbending is  _ hilarious. _ ”

“Hilarious?” Zuko looked away from the burner for a moment to shoot a questioning look at Sokka, “How is it hilarious? It’s terrifying.”

“Which is why it’s hilarious!” Sokka said, “Like, the Fire Nation went through an industrial revolution and created a ton of war machines out of material that couldn’t be affected by bending. Everyone thought that metal was the perfect defense because it was unbendable and couldn’t be heavily damaged by any of the elements, so you make literally everything out of the stuff. But then Toph comes along and  _ invents  _ metalbending, and almost no one knew that she could do that. Zuko, you should have  _ seen  _ the looks on the soldiers’ faces when Toph started crumbling iron doors like paper – she was everyone’s worst nightmare!”

“To be fair, it’s kind of horrifying,” Zuko admitted, “The first time I saw her metalbend, I thought I was going insane. I knew that she would be devastating because it’s like you said – the Fire Nation relies on metal products a  _ lot,  _ especially for war. Hold on, we’re heading for the trees.”

No sooner had Sokka heard this and grabbed hold of an inner railing did they hit the tops of the trees, bumping down along the way until they landed in a small clearing. They quickly disembarked and looked the balloon over for damage. When they found none, they made camp.

They’d packed one large tent for the both of them, as well as two separate sleeping rolls. Sokka had one from the Water Tribe, while Zuko’s was from his home. As soon as they finished setting up the sleeping arrangements, it began to rain.

“Good timing,” Sokka noted.

“Yeah,” Zuko agreed as he lit the fire. It was small and sat between the two rolls, underneath a small opening to allow the smoke out, “I think the storm’s going to last a day or so – we’ll be stuck here for a bit.”

“I figured as much. Hey, by the way, was there anything else about us that surprised you?”

Zuko frowned as he sat back on his bedroll, “What do you mean?”

“Well obviously you didn’t know about Toph’s metalbending,” Sokka explained, leaning on his side and propping his head up on his hand, “There had to be some other stuff you weren’t expecting from us, right?”

“There was a lot, honestly,” Zuko agreed, “Toph in general was kind of a surprise. I think the first time I met her was when we fought Azula, and there was so much going on that I didn’t really think about her. I’d figured that Aang had found an earthbending teacher, and thought it might be Toph, but she was so different from everything I’d heard. When people told stories, they made it seem like Toph was some great warrior, not some little blind girl. When I first joined the group, I didn’t think they were the same person. I didn’t even know Toph was blind for a good week.”

Sokka laughed at that, “Yeah, fair enough. No one wants to admit they got beat up by a twelve-year-old girl. Anyone else though? What about Aang?”

Zuko shrugged, “I knew him the best out of everyone, probably. We fought a lot, obviously, so I knew his personality and his abilities. It was you and Katara that shocked me the most, probably.”

“Oh?” Sokka perked up a little, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I always kind of saw you and Katara as peasants, someone lesser than me.”

“Even though we technically have the same rank.”

“Yes, well, I also thought my father still cared about me, so I was wrong about a few things. Anyways, I knew Katara was mostly self-taught and I figured she found a master at the Northern Tribe. She was a capable waterbender, but I never really saw her as a proper enemy because she seemed so docile. It wasn’t until I first joined and she threatened my life that I realized she was dangerous, and I realized  _ how  _ dangerous when we went to find Yon Rha.” Zuko shuddered a bit, remembering all the things he saw Katara do, “The first half of the mission was fine, but it was when she used her bending to control a man’s actual blood that terrified me. I didn’t even think that was possible, and she did it like it was nothing. Then she literally stopped the rain and –” Zuko shook his head and took a breath, “She could have killed me  _ so  _ many times.”

“Yeah, Katara hates doing stuff like that. I remember when we first met Hama, and she taught Katara how to bloodbend.” Sokka looked into the fire, as if the flames were playing out his memories, “She used it against me, and it was probably the most uncomfortable experience in my life – and I’ve been trapped in a hole for twelve hours! It was like my body moved against me, and everything  _ itched. _ ”

“I never want to experience it,” Zuko decided.

Sokka laughed, “Yeah, you’re not missing out.” Then he looked back at Zuko, “So, what about me? How did I surprise you?”

“Well, I didn’t know you,” Zuko admitted, “You didn’t really do a lot of fighting on the front lines, but I knew you were smart. I still remember when you set those pirates against us.”

“Yeah, pretty proud of myself for that one.”

“I’m sure. But...I guess I was surprised by how resourceful you were. You weren’t the most powerful, or the healer, or the greatest fighter, but you were the one responsible for keeping everything on track. When I joined, I assumed that Aang was the leader because he was the Avatar, and I thought you were his sidekick. But then I saw how clever you were, and I learned that it was your strategy that was used on the Day of Black Sun. Out of everyone, I think I underestimated you the most.”

“And now you couldn’t live without me,” Sokka teased.

“Right,” Zuko said as he rolled his eyes, “But...did I surprise  _ you _ ?”

“Actually...yeah.” Sokka turned on his back, looking up at their tent, “When I was younger, I figured everyone in the Fire Nation was evil. It took a lot for me to learn otherwise, but I think the hardest one to wrap my head around was you. You were our personal enemy as well as a figurehead for the Fire Nation, being the crown prince and all, so when I thought of the Fire Nation, I thought of you. I figured you were rotten to the core like your father, hellbent on world domination. I thought you were just some broody hothead – which you are.”

“I am not  _ broody! _ ”

“Sure,” Sokka scoffed, “Anyways, I saw that you had actual emotions, personal issues, your own goals – you were a kid just like me.” Sokka turned his head and smiled at Zuko, “Once I figured out that you and I weren’t so different, I decided to try and actually be friends. I think it was a pretty good decision, all things considered.”

“Right.”

Sokka smiled at him then sighed and sat up, “Alright, I think I’m heading to sleep.”

“I won’t be far behind you,” Zuko said as he stood up, shrugging off his travelling cloak and shirt, then changed into his sleeping pants. When he turned back around, he saw Sokka staring at him.

“What?” He asked, suddenly uncomfortable. It wasn’t as though he and Sokka hadn’t seen each other naked before – they’d been to the hot springs plenty of times, not to mention that it was hard to find privacy during their travels with Aang.

“You’re still wearing it,” Sokka mused.

“Wearing what?”

“My necklace.”

“Oh.” Zuko’s hand drifted up to it, “Yeah. I liked how it looked, and it feels really comfortable, so I don’t really bother to take it off, except when I bathe.”

“Oh. Uh, cool. Well, I’m glad you like it so much.”

“Of course. If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you wear your hair ornament?”

Sokka shrugged as he sat back down on his roll, now also dressed in his pajamas, “I’m just not used to it, I guess. I like my wolf’s tail,and while it stays just fine in that, it just feels a little weird. Plus, I know it’s really valuable, and I don’t wanna break it, so I just wear it around the Palace.” He frowned at Zuko, “Why? Should I be wearing it more?”

“You can wear it as much or as little as you like,” Zuko replied, “I just think it looks nice in your hair.”

Sokka grinned at him, “Well, maybe I’ll wear it more often then. But in the meantime…” Sokka reached up and undid his wolf’s tail, letting his hair hang loose around his face. Down, it brushed his shoulders and framed his eyes, so they somehow looked even more blue.

Essentially, Sokka looked  _ very  _ pretty with his hair down.

“Okay goodnight!” Zuko said, suddenly overwhelmed with the need to be thrust into darkness. Sokka returned his goodnight as he put out the fire, and the two soon went to sleep.

* * *

_ When Zuko opened his eyes, he was in a familiar place. _

_ He recognized it immediately as the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It looked the same as it had four years ago when he’d captured Aang – it still had the two koi fish circling each other in the pond. _

_ Then, the pond in front of him shimmered silver and he shielded his eyes. When the light died, a woman floated over the waves. _

_ She seemed very familiar, with long, flowing silver hair and bright blue eyes. Her paleness and ethereal glow told him she was a spirit. _

_ “Are you...Yue?” Zuko asked. _

_ The spirit smiled down at him, “I am. And you are Firelord Zuko.” _

_ Zuko nodded, unsure of what to say. _

_ “I know you are engaged to Sokka.” Yue raised her hand and pointed at Zuko’s neck, where his necklace was. _

_ “I’m sorry,” Zuko blurted out, “It wasn’t my choice – my advisors and the Chiefs arranged our marriage to help Water Tribe and Fire Nation relations.” _

_ Yue smiled softly at Zuko, “I know, I’m not angry. In fact, I’m happy for the two of you – I’m glad Sokka will be able to spend the rest of his life with someone he cares so deeply about.” _

_ “Are you...jealous?” Zuko asked, though he knew that wasn’t the right word. _

_ “In a way,” Yue admitted, “I was sixteen when I met Sokka, and I didn’t know him for very long, but he changed my life. I had never met someone who was so in charge of their own life, someone who had so much drive. He inspired me to follow my own destiny – it was his independence that helped me make the choice to become the moon spirit. While I would have liked to spend the rest of our lives together, it’s not what destiny intended. He had to help the Avatar, and I now know that I was born to become the moon spirit.” _

_ “Can you see everything? As the moon?” _

_ “Not everything,” Yue replied, “But if I focus, I can watch from my place in the sky. I don’t do it terribly often, but I do watch Sokka sometimes, to see how he’s doing. I see that he’s very happy with you.” _

_ “He’s one of my best friends,” Zuko said, “he makes me happy too.” _

_ “I’m glad to hear that.” Then she sighed softly and looked into the distance, behind Zuko. But when he turned, he saw only a mountain of ice, “I want to give him closure, and I think you can help him with that. His relationship with Suki was tainted by his feelings for me, and I don’t want that to happen for you. I still love Sokka dearly, but I know we cannot be together, and I want him to be happy.” She turned back to smile at Zuko again, “You have my blessing, Firelord Zuko. I know you’ll make the perfect husband for my Sokka. Now, I think it’s time to wake up – Sokka needs you.” _

_ Before Zuko could ask what she meant, Yue reached a graceful finger out and gently touched the centre of his forehead. _

* * *

Zuko gasped and sat up, feeling as though he were shocked awake.

He took a moment to catch his breath and remember the dream. 

So, Yue had taken notice of them, and she thought that Zuko made Sokka happy.

_ Sokka needs you. _

The night was dark and Zuko couldn’t see, so he lit a fire in his palm and turned to look at Sokka sleeping. Only, he wasn’t there. A sudden wind blowing through the tent told him that it had been opened, and he could see Sokka’s footprints in the mud.

Zuko didn’t hesitate before running into the storm.


	13. The Trip Pt II: Sokka's Sword

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late updates!!!! Now that I'm back to work fulltime, I just don't have the energy to write every day, as annoying as it is. I promise that I'm not abandoning the story, I'm just really busy and exhausted when I come home from work lmao. Thanks for all of the patience and support!
> 
> Happy Reading:)

_ Sokka knew he was dreaming the moment he opened his eyes. _

_ This was usual, as Sokka always knew when he was dreaming, and as a consequence, he could always control his dreams.  _

_ Sokka found himself in the middle of the Wulong Forest; not in the clearing where he and Zuko had made camp, but in a dense knot of trees. In front of him was a shimmering white light. When he reached out to touch it, it exploded, blinding him. He tried to will the light away, but it stayed. _

_ After a moment, it dissipated, and a familiar figure took its place. _

_ “It’s been a while since I’ve dreamt of you,” Sokka mused, reaching a hand out to gently caress Yue’s face, “But I can never forget how beautiful you are.” _

_ Yue smiled and placed a hand over his, “You’re still so sweet to me Sokka, I’ve missed you. But listen, I don’t have much time.” _

_ Sokka frowned, “What do you mean? It’s my dream – we have all the time in the world.” _

_ “This is a dream, but I am real,” Yue explained, “I’m not a figment of your mind, I needed to talk to you.” _

_ Sokka’s heart stopped beating for a moment and he yanked his hand back, feeling his face heat up rather rapidly, “Wait, you’re the actual Yue? I thought you were just something I made up!” _

_ “No,” Yue said with a small laugh, “it’s really me.” _

_ “Why now?” Sokka asked, “Why talk to me after all these years? Is something wrong? Are you...are you mad at me?” _

_ “Nothing like that,” Yue assured. She drifted down and gripped Sokka’s hands between her own, which suddenly made Sokka realize how young she looked, “It took some time to learn how to enter your dreams. Sokka, I know you still love me after all this time,” _

_ “How can I not?” Sokka asked, “I know we didn’t have much time together, but our memories together are some of the happiest of my life. When you died, I feel like a part of me died with you.” _

_ “I’m happy you still love me,” Yue said softly, “but you need to let me go. I know you loved Suki as well, but your feelings for me stopped you from being truly happy. I don’t want that for you, now that you have an opportunity with Zuko.” _

_ “It’s easier said that done, Yue. Suki was awesome, and so is Zuko, but they aren’t you. No one will ever be you, no one will ever be what you were to me, no one will have what we had.” _

_ “And that’s alright,” Yue told him with a soft smile, “I’ll always love you Sokka, and I think you’ll always love me too, but that doesn’t mean you can’t love someone else. It’s true that no one will ever be  _ me _ , but that doesn’t make them lesser. What you have with Zuko is unique as well, and I know you can be happy with him if you just let yourself be happy.” _

_ “Yue, what are you saying?” _

_ “You have my blessing Sokka – you and Zuko both. I want you to be happy together, and I know you will be.” _

_ “I...I appreciate your blessing, but I don’t know if Zuko will ever love me.” _

_ Yue smiled, “Did you think I would come to fall in love with you?” _

_ “To be entirely honest,” Sokka admitted sheepishly, “I hoped that you’d think I was funny and cool enough to kiss me, but I didn’t think we’d fall in love.” _

_ Yue laughed lightly, and it filled Sokka’s heart with joy, “Exactly. You never know what’ll happen – you’re easier to fall in love with than you think.” _

_ Sokka smiled, “Well, thanks. Is that what you wanted to talk about; my relationship with Zuko?” _

_ “Yes, but I also have a gift. Think of it as a wedding gift.” Yue let go of his hands to wave her own. The dark grove was flooded with moonlight, which glinted off a black blade. _

_ “My space sword!” Sokka cried, recognizing his own handiwork immediately, “I thought it was lost!” _

_ “It was, but I’ve been keeping an eye on it. When I saw you and Zuko travelling through this forest, I knew I had to guide you to it.” Yue turned back to Sokka, “Don’t go searching for it now – the storm is raging.” _

_ “I have to go!” Sokka cried, “I don’t know when we’ll be back!” _

_ “Sokka, wait until the storm has passed –” _

_ “Thank you Yue,” Sokka said as he caressed her cheek one final time, “For everything.” _

_ “Sokka, wait –” _

* * *

Sokka sat up with a gasp.

He’d woken himself up from his dream, which was something he’d learned early on. He felt a little bad about cutting Yue off, but he couldn’t let her gift go to waste. The storm was still raging on, but Sokka figured that now was his only chance to find the sword.

He dressed quickly, tying his hair back loosely. He grabbed his boomerang before exiting the tent. Sure enough, there was a path of moonlight leading through the trees. It disappeared amongst lightning, but Sokka was not about to be deterred.

He turned back to the tent to see Zuko still sleeping. Sokka was tempted to wake him, but he looked so peaceful that he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Besides, this was something that Sokka had to do alone.

The moonlight that bled through the trees lit his way and Sokka followed it, trusting in Yue. He couldn’t see much aside from the path, and if it weren’t for the storm, he might have been worried about the creatures of the forest. He was quickly soaked through, and Sokka began to wish that he had brought an umbrella, if only for the fact that the rain dripped into his eyes.

After some time, Sokka thought he heard his name being called, but between the rain pelting the ground, the wind in the leaves, and the thunder, he couldn’t be sure. Either way, he elected to ignore it.

He continued down the path of moonlight, shoving away any branches in front of him. There, in the distance, he saw a reflection of light. He forced himself to go faster, until he found himself in a grove of trees.

There, stuck in the ground, was his space sword.

It looked the exact same as the day he lost it, except that the blade was split down the middle – one half was the same black meteor metal, while the other was a shimmery white. Sokka thought that it was a trick of the light, but as he got closer, he noticed that half of the blade really had changed colour.

As his hand touched the hilt, he heard Yue’s voice surrounding him.

“ _ I have blessed this sword, so that you will always find it when you need it. _ ”

Sokka smiled softly at the blade, “Thank you, Yue. I’ll treasure it even more now.”

But there was no response.

Sokka fell to his knees on the muddy ground and gripped the sword, letting his head fall as he began to cry.

* * *

Sokka wasn’t sure how long it was before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He jumped and turned around, relieved to see Zuko standing over him, looking concerned.

“Sokka, what the hell are you doing?”

“Yue gave me a gift,” Sokka replied, looking back to the sword, “she returned what I thought was lost.”

“Is that...your sword? The meteor sword?”

Sokka nodded, “Yeah. She led me to it, and she blessed it.”

“I can see that. C’mon, we can look at it better in the tent, away from the storm.”

“Right.”

Zuko helped Sokka up with one hand, the other holding an umbrella. Sokka noticed that Zuko wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his hair was left down – it was likely that he’d rushed out of the tent to find Sokka.

Once he was up, Sokka gripped the hilt of the sword and pulled it out of the ground. It came out miraculously clean, which Sokka was grateful for.

“Let’s go back – the storm doesn’t look like it’s letting up anytime soon.”

“Okay.”

Zuko held his free hand out to light a fire in his palm, lighting their way. The path of moonlight was beginning to fade, but they were still able to find their campsite well enough.

As they walked and Sokka really came back down to earth, he realized how cold he was. He’d rushed out of the tent in nothing but his pants, and he was soaked to the bone.  He shivered as a particularly strong wind blew by. Apparently Zuko noticed, because he drew his hand closer and lit the flame a little more.

“We’re almost there,” Zuko assured him, “You can warm up inside the tent.”

“T-thanks.”  _ Goddammit why are my teeth chattering this much _ ?

Sure enough, the tent appeared before them and they quickly hurried inside. Sokka had a blanket tossed over his shoulders before Zuko relit the fire, instantly filling the tent with warmth and light.

“Why the hell would you go out in the storm?” Zuko demanded.

“Yue gave me a vision of my sword!” Sokka explained, “I couldn’t just sit here while it sat out there! I’ve been looking for this sword for four years, and suddenly Yue comes and tells me it’s right here? I couldn’t...I couldn’t just let her gift go to waste.”

Zuko frowned and nodded, but didn’t offer anything more than that.

“Take your pants off.”

“W-what?”

“Take your pants off,” Zuko repeated plainly, “They’re soaked through. We can hang them up to dry.”

“Oh. Yeah, right.”

Sokka finally set the sword down on his bedroll and took off his pants. He wasn’t so sure  _ why  _ he was suddenly so nervous – he still had his underwear, and even still, he and Zuko had seen each other naked plenty of times. During their travels across the world with the rest of the Gaang, living together, going to the Royal Baths; the two of them were very used to each other, so why was Sokka so anxious about being nude in front of one of his closest friends?

_ It’s because you have a big fat crush on him _ , one part of his brain said.

_ Shut the hell up, _ said the other part.

“She appeared to me too,” Zuko said after a long, quiet moment.

“She did?”

Zuko nodded, “In my dream, yeah. She told me to go after you, that you needed me.”

“Well, she was right,” Sokka admitted with a light chuckle, “Kind of dumb of me to just wander out into the storm in the woods at night.”

“Yeah, that was pretty stupid of you. But I get why. Yue actually gave me a vision too.”

“Really?”

Zuko nodded, staring into the flames thoughtfully, “She seems really nice, just like you described her. I can see why you’re in love with her.”

“Did...did she say anything else?”

Zuko glanced up at Sokka before shrugging and looking back into the flames, “Uh...not really. She just said that she wanted you to be happy, then told me to go find you. What did she say to you?”

“Same stuff,” Sokka said, though this was a half-truth. He glanced up at Zuko and they locked eyes.

They were both lying.

Maybe they just weren’t ready to hear the other’s truth.


	14. The Trip Pt III: The Sun Warriors' City

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Motivation?? I do not fucking know her.
> 
> I don't know why, but all of my creative energies have just DISAPPEARED. I will try to update my fics, with my main focus likely being on this one, How to Fake-Date a Pro Hero, and my Harry Potter/BNHA au. I think there may be a quality drop just bc I have no motivation to do anything and I do apologize for that. A muse is a fickle thing. 
> 
> Anyways, I'm back in isolation bc there's been a very minor outbreak at my job and now I'm looking for a new job closer to home. Maybe I'll start an onlyfans – I need the money
> 
> Maybe I should open up commissions for writing? Can writers have a patreon????? lemme know I guess lmao
> 
> OH YEAH and before I forget – I haven't been responding to comments lately. I'm getting way more than I'm used to lol. I promise I'm reading each of them and they're all greatly appreciated, but I just haven't had the time or the patience to go through and reply to all 185 that have built up in my inbox. If you have questions I'll probably answer them tho.
> 
> Thanks for all the support, and happy reading:)

The storm raged on for another day and night, so Zuko and Sokka mostly remained in the tent, eating and talking like they normally would in the palace.

Once the storm did let up, the two of them quickly packed up and continued on their journey. It would be another two days or so of flying before they hit their mark, though neither of them minded. While not necessarily together, the two men had travelled the world a dozen times over, so long stretches of quiet were appreciated.

It was a few hours into the flight before Sokka spoke.

“So, are you going to tell me what all of this is about?”

Zuko sighed and turned from his spot by the engine, “I was hoping I could leave you behind once we actually got there.”

Sokka laughed heartily, “Yeah, fat chance of that, Your Highness. I’ve come all this way, I’m gonna see this through, whatever it is. So, what is it?”

“I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about this – neither of us were.”

“Woah, woah!” Sokka cried, “‘Neither’? What do you mean ‘ _ neither’ _ ? There’s someone else that knows about this secret?!”

Zuko huffed as he leaned against the rail, “Remember when I was first training Aang, and we went on a trip to learn about the origin of firebending?”

“Yeah, to the ancient city of the Sun Warriors, right?” Sokka recalled, then he gasped dramatically, “Wait! Don’t tell me! You and Aang went to the abandoned city only to discover it wasn’t abandoned – it was inhabited by dragons!”

“That’s….actually not that far off,” Zuko admitted, “How did you guess that?”  _ Had Aang told him? _

Sokka shrugged, “I dunno, just seemed like the coolest option. So you did meet dragons?”

“Yeah, sorta,” Zuko began, “When we got to the centre of the city, Aang and I found this golden egg. I thought it would be a good idea to touch it, but it was a trap – as soon as I took it off its pedestal, the room filled with a sticky tar and trapped us both. When night came, we were let out by the Sun Warriors that still inhabited the city in secret. They explained that they had remained separate from the Fire Nation for centuries and demanded to know what we were doing there. They weren’t too happy with who we were, and they almost killed us.”

“Wait, even Aang?” Sokka asked, “But he’s the Avatar. That’s usually a good ‘get outta execution’ card.”

“Yeah, well, they weren’t happy that he essentially abandoned the world a hundred years before, which led to the near extinction of dragons. Anyways, we managed to convince them to teach us the origin of firebending, so we each carried a part of the Eternal Flame up this mountain to meet the firebending masters. When we got there and presented our Flame, two dragons showed up – Ran and Shaw. They taught us that while fire was an element of power and destruction, it was also an element of life and hope.”

“Wait, so you met  _ actual  _ dragons?” Sokka asked excitedly, “I thought you said they were extinct, that your uncle killed the last dragon!”

“He lied,” Zuko said with a small smile, “Turns out, he went on the same journey we did to meet the masters, and he claimed that he killed them in order to protect them.”

“That’s so cool!” Sokka cried, “I can’t wait to meet them.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Sokka. The Sun Warriors made Aang and I swear to never tell  _ anyone _ . We didn’t tell anyone else in the group.”

“Well, I should be an exception right?” Sokka asked, “I mean, I  _ am  _ your fiancé. It wouldn’t be right for you to keep secrets from me.”

“I doubt they’ll feel the same.”

“We’ll deal with that when we arrive. I’m sure they’ll love me! I mean, who doesn’t?”

Zuko scoffed, “Sure, Sokka.”

* * *

Two days later, the two of them touched down at the main gate of the ancient city. Sokka marvelled at it, prattling on about how it survived for thousands of years. However, Zuko couldn’t really pay him all that much attention, considering how nervous he was.

Despite him and Aang being two of the most powerful political figures in the world (with Aang being the  _ literal Avatar _ ), the Sun Warriors held no qualms about leaving them at the mercy of two dragons. Zuko liked to believe that Chief Aapo knew that they would be selected as worthy all along, but he couldn’t be sure. Either way, they held no regard for political matters, so Zuko didn’t expect them to be any warmer towards Sokka – who had not earned the knowledge in their eyes.

As they began to head to the temple, Zuko was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to remember the traps.

“Zuko, stop!”

Sokka, who was walking beside him, suddenly slammed his hand sideways, hitting Zuko’s chest.

“Sokka, wha–?”

“Look!” He pointed at a stone in the walkway, “That stone doesn’t have any moss on it.”

“Okay, so?”

“ _ So  _ all of the stones around it have moss. That stone has been moved enough to not have anything grow on it – it’s probably a trap of some kind.”

“Oh, I forgot,” Zuko said, looking at the path ahead of them, “The city is filled with traps. Aang and I had to avoid them our first time.”

“That might have been nice to know ahead of time,” Sokka mumbled as he gingerly stepped on the stone. It pressed down, and the pathway in front of them suddenly opened up to reveal a very shallow pit of very sharp spikes.

“How did you catch that?” Zuko asked as Sokka pressed down on the stone again, closing the pathway.

“I used to lay traps back at home,” Sokka explained, his eyes sweeping the path in front of them for anything else, “So I always had to keep an eye out whenever I left the village. That, and the Fire Nation left a ton of traps in forests and stuff, so we had to avoid those. I got pretty good at watching out for stuff like that. You know, I’m actually really impressed that these traps still work.”

“Well, the Sun Warriors are still here, and they want to remain secret. It would make sense if they kept up the traps.”

“Yeah, but these have to be thousands of years – oh watch that tripwire – thousands of years old! For them to still work requires insane engineering, regardless of maintenance.”

Zuko couldn’t help but stare at Sokka in awe as he went on about the genius of the traps. It was easy to forget because Sokka was a goof and a dumbass, but he was one of the smartest people that Zuko had ever met.

After picking their way through the empty streets, they came to the base of the stepped pyramid, where Chief Aapo and a young woman holding a spear were waiting. The woman scowled and hefted the spear when she saw them.

“I believe I told you to come alone,” Chief Aapo said.

“I tried.”

“Hi, I’m Sokka.” Sokka smiled winningly at the man, “I’m Zuko’s fiancé and he wouldn’t let me be in charge of the Fire Nation while he was gone, so I tagged along.”

Chief Aapo scowled at Zuko, “You promised to keep the secret.”

“I haven’t told anybody!” Zuko assured.

“Lies!” The woman snarled as she raised her spear towards Sokka’s chest. He immediately pulled out his sword in defense, and Zuko began to prepare for a fight.

“Wait, Itzel!” Chief Aapo said, holding his hand out, “Your sword...may I see it?”

Sokka glanced at Zuko, obviously unsure. He had just gotten his sword, so it made sense that he was wary to hand it over.

But it was either that or fight a useless battle, so Zuko nodded at him and Sokka sighed, warily handing the sword over to Aapo.

He turned the dual-coloured blade over in his hands carefully, staring at it with wide eyes.

“What is it, father?” Itzel asked.

“This blade…” Aapo looked back at Sokka, “It has been blessed by the moon herself.”

“Um...yeah,” Sokka said, “The moon spirit and I kinda have... _ history. _ ”

“Is that a good thing?” Zuko asked.

“Indeed,” Aapo said with a smile, handing the sword back to Sokka, “While we Sun Warriors dedicate ourselves to the spirit of the sun and the life that he provides, the moon is also a very important part of our lives. We mourned when our priests foresaw the death of Tui and rejoiced at the rebirth of Yue as our new moon spirit. If you, Sokka, are a friend of the moon, you are a friend of the Sun Warriors. Now come, there is much to tell you.”

Sokka and Zuko shared a look as Chief Aapo and Itzel turned and began to walk around the temple, before following them.

“So is it true?” Zuko asked, “That Ran and Shaw’s egg is hatching?”

“It is,” Aapo replied, “We received a prophecy that the egg will hatch at noon on the solstice, when the day is brightest. You must be there when it hatches, to greet it into the world.”

“But why me?” Zuko asked.

“Yeah, if the egg belongs to two dragons who are still alive, then why not have them raise it?” Sokka added.

“The spirits work in mysterious ways,” Itzel told them sharply, “It is not our place to question them!”

“Okay, but the dragons aren’t spirits, right?” Sokka pointed out, “From what Zuko told me, they’re real, fire-breathing dragons. So can we question  _ them _ ?”

“I wouldn’t,” Chief Aapo warned, “The two Masters are very reclusive and usually only reveal themselves for auspicious events, prophecies, or to test new seekers of knowledge. They are also rather short-tempered.”

“I knew a spirit that sounds like that – Wan Shi Tong. Kind of an asshole, to be honest.”

Chief Aapo stopped and stared at Sokka in awe, “ _ You  _ met Wan Shi Tong, Knower of A Thousand Things? The keeper of the Spirit Library?”

“Yeah, big owl guy with a deep voice and a creepy neck.” Sokka nodded, “We met him when we were travelling through the Earth Kingdom. It’s uh, it’s actually where we learned about the Day of Black Sun.”

“Tell me, young man,” Chief Aapo said as he fully turned to face Sokka, “is it usual for you to so easily communicate with the spirits?”

Sokka shrugged, “I hang around a lot with the Avatar, so yeah. Weird magic stuff happens when you hang with weird magic people.”

Chief Aapo nodded and then continued leading them around the temple. Soon, he reached a part of the wall with a flaming handprint, which he stuck his hand into and lit it, opening a secret door. He and Itzel went inside the depths of the temple, with Sokka and Zuko following behind.

The walls were lined with torches that lit the way, revealing colourful and bright paintings on the walls.

“Why is it such a big deal that I know spirit stuff?” Sokka whispered to Zuko as they followed the Sun Warriors deeper, “I mean, they’ve met the  _ actual  _ Avatar. I’m not even a bender!”

“The Sun Warriors are deeply spiritual people,” Zuko whispered back, “They’re sorta like the Airbending Monks of the Fire Nation.”

“But warriors instead of monks,” Sokka noted, “But that still doesn’t answer my question.”

Zuko shrugged, “Maybe your interaction with the spirits is more impressive  _ because  _ you’re a nonbender. I mean, you have an impressive track record. Uncle is actually a little jealous.”

“Wait, wha–”

But before Sokka could continue, they entered into a massive chamber. It was pitch dark until Chief Aapo placed his hand on the wall and firebent again, sending a long spiral of fire lacing through the walls. Zuko and Sokka watched in amazement as the fire lit up the room among them, accenting the gorgeous paintings and carvings that covered the walls.

“Now  _ this  _ is what your throne room should look like.”

Zuko nodded in agreement – how could he not? The room was absolutely stunning. It had a high ceiling and was shaped like a pyramid, with the top filled with a massive yellow gem. The fire reached it and it began to glow, mimicking the sun. Zuko narrowed his eyes, seeing an oval shape in the gem.

“Is the egg kept in there?”

“It is,” Chief Aapo said, “We keep it hidden away, warm and safe. In two days, the sanctuary will open, and we shall perform the Dancing Dragon.”

“You mean that fancy-pants firebending move you did with Aang?” Sokka asked.

“Yeah,” Zuko said, “When you do the move right, it unlocks the ground and the egg is pushed out.”

“Exactly,” Chief Aapo said, “Once the egg is pushed out into the sunlight, it shall hatch. And once it does, it must imprint on you, Firelord Zuko. This is very important – you must be the only one in the sanctuary, so that it does not imprint on anyone else.”

“It’s like a baby turtleduck,” Zuko mused.

“I suppose so, yes. Now, it is good that you were able to arrive early, because there is much to be learned about caring for a dragon, let alone a baby.”


	15. The Trip Pt IV: The Golden Egg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys!!!! So I officialy have a patreon! I know I can't link it here bc like copyright and all that, but it's the same name lol. Anyways, I'll still be posting here for free! But my patreon will just have new chapters a week sooner, as well as some bonus content and original works. If that's what you're into, feel free to pay me!!!
> 
> Happy reading:)

Sokka had no idea that taking care of a baby dragon took so much  _ reading.  _

Over the next few days, he and Zuko sat in the massive library underneath the temple and read all about dragons. Turned out that dragons were essentially like sky bisons to Fire Nation nobility, and many Firelords had such pets. Early on in the first day, Sokka had asked Zuko if instructional texts like the ones they were reading remained in the Fire Nation.

“Not many,” Zuko admitted with a heavy sigh, “After Sozin started hunting dragons, a lot of the texts about how to care for dragons were destroyed. I guess he was worried about draconic conservationists trying to hide some away or something.”

“Why did he start that anyways?” Sokk asked, tilting his head to look up at Zuko. In the centre of the room under the golden chamber was a small cut-out of the floor, filled with cushions. The two of them sat there, Zuko with his back against the step out of the cut-out, Sokka lying on his back, reading the scrolls that lined the walls in hidden nooks. “Like, why did he start killing dragons? I thought you said he had a pet dragon too?”

Zuko sighed again and set the scroll he was reading down. He leaned his head back to look at the egg above them, “Uncle knew Sozin, asked him about it, once. It was a long time ago, but he told me about it…it’s sort of a long story though.”

“I need a break from reading,” Sokka said with a laugh, “The longer the story, the better.”

Zuko smiled a bit, but his smile faded as he continued to stare at the egg, “I talked to Aang about it a while back. Apparently, Fire Nation nobility had a custom similar to the Air Nomads – when they reached sixteen they went to a nearby sanctuary and found a dragon to bond with. Sozin and Roku went the day after their sixteenth birthday, before Roku left to begin his training. They found their dragons together. Then...well, their two dragons mated. Dragons mate for life.”

“Oh.” Sokka turned so he was on his stomach, his chin resting on his crossed hands, “I didn’t know that.”

“Me neither. Aang talked to Roku, I guess. Anyways, I found one of Sozin’s old journals. As he and Roku grew apart, he found it harder to look at his dragon without thinking of his old friend. After Roku and Fang’s deaths, Sozin’s dragon refused to eat, sleep, or do much of anything really. It’s what happens when a mated dragon dies, the other one usually has a hard time living on their own. And Sozin essentially killed Roku – his dragon must have been filled with guilt. After a while, I guess Sozin had enough. He killed his own dragon.”

“Wait!” Sokka raised himself to his elbows, “Sozin  _ killed  _ his own dragon? That’s insane! It would be like Aang killing Appa!”

“Sozin was already showing signs of going senile,” Zuko admitted, “He’d already used the comet. Roku was dead. He’d already begun his attacks on the Air Nomads. Uncle says that Sozin hadn’t truly tasted blood until he killed Roku. After that, he got a hunger for it. He was too old to lead in war, so Uncle thinks Sozin took to killing dragons to prove how mighty he still was.” Zuko lifted his head to face Sokka and rubbed his eyes, “Sozin was insane, and he shouldn’t have been in power for as long as he was.”

“He sounds awful,” Sokka agreed, “It’s hard to believe you guys are related.”

“I know, but I feel like I can never forget it.” Zuko’s hand hovered over his scar. 

Throughout his time with Zuko, Sokka had learned many things. He’d learned that Zuko’s favourite tea was jasmine, his favourite colour was red, he’d learned basic swordsmanship from Master Piandao before moving onto a master who specialized in dual swords, Zuko liked to calm down by making tea and sitting with the turtle ducks, and that he liked sunsets better than sunrises. So yeah, Sokka had learned many things about Zuko, and one of those things was that whenever Zuko touched his scar, it meant he was thinking some dark thoughts, almost always about his family, usually about his father. 

He’d also learned that the best way to stop these thoughts was to distract Zuko.

So, he sat up and moved towards Zuko, gently grabbing his wrist and pulling it away from his face. Zuko looked a bit surprised.

“You won’t be able to forget it,” Sokka said, now essentially kneeling in front of Zuko, “But you can move past it. You already have. You’re still doing it – every step you take towards bettering the world is a step you take away from the black marks in your family.”

“But I can’t get away from them,” Zuko argued sadly, “They’ll always be there, in history. And I...I can’t just erase them from history, I’d just be erasing all that pain.”

“You’re right, you can’t just erase them,” Sokka agreed, “You can’t erase what they did. But you  _ can  _ create new things.”

“To distract people from the wrongs my family has done?”

“To prove you’re not them.” Sokka was still holding onto Zuko’s wrist, and he used his other hand to gesture at Zuko’s betrothal necklace, “I’m here to help. And now that I’m marrying into your family, it’s my burden to bear too.”

“It shouldn’t be,” Zuko said, “It shouldn’t be  _ anyone’s  _ burden but  _ mine. _ ”

“Why?” Sokka scoffed, “Because fate put you in the family? Neither of us really have a choice to be in this Royal family, so we may as well stick together. I mean, isn’t that what marriage is all about?”

Zuko stared at Sokka, then chuckled a little bit, shifting his hand so his fingers intertwined with Sokka’s, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Something else might have happened then, but Chief Aapo entered the chamber.

“Sokka, Firelord Zuko, how are you two doing?”

“Fine, thank you,” Zuko said, quickly shifting to let go of Sokka. He leaned back and Sokka moved away.

“I need some sun,” Sokka declared as he stood up, stretching, his knees popping as he did.

He passed Chief Aapo and found himself in the sun. He took a moment to bask in its warmth before deciding to wander around the city.

As much as Sokka loved reading, he needed to take breaks every now and then to let his mind breathe. During those breaks, he’d figured out the layout of the city near the temple. Most of the city was abandoned, but there were people who lived close to the temple. They kept most of their belongings underground, Sokka had learned, to hide from the sun’s heat. 

Sokka wandered around for a bit, coming to an arena a little while back of the temple. It was empty save for Itzel, who was practicing a complicated maneuver with a spear, augmenting her firebending. Sokka watched for a bit before making himself known.

“Hey! Itzel!” He waved as he descended the steps into the arena.

She paused in her routine, scowling up at him.

“What do you want?”

“For you to teach me!” Sokka said cheerfully, “You have an interesting style!”

Itzel slammed the butt of her spear on the ground, the sound reverberating around the arena, “It is bad enough that you come into our city without permission, but now you demand to know our secrets?!”

“Hey, I’m not demanding anything!” Sokka assured, holding his hands up in surrender, “If you don’t wanna teach me, that’s cool! I just need a break from reading.  _ Dragon-Raising 101  _ isn’t exactly exciting material.”

“You dare call it dull?”

Sokka quirked a smile, “Have you read it?”

Itzel stared him down before sighing, “Yes. You make a good point.”

Sokka laughed, “Glad we’re on the same page. So, are all you Sun Warriors firebenders?”

Itzel cocked her head, “Of course. We are spiritually tied to the Sun, and in return, he grants us bending. Are you not a bender as well?”

“Actually, no.” Sokka shrugged, “My sister is the only waterbender in our tribe.”

“The  _ only  _ bender?” Itzel said, “How can that be?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a happy story.”

Itzel looked at him a moment before walking over to the steps and sitting down, looking at him expectantly. After a moment, Sokka followed.

“During the war,” Sokka began once he sat down, “Firelord Sozin decided that it would be easier to slowly deplete our tribe of resources and fighters, so he launched a bunch of raids on the Southern Water Tribe, kidnapping our waterbenders. After their last raid – for about a generation – there were no benders. Until my sister was born. We  _ still  _ don’t understand why she was a bender and no one else, because at that point, our tribe had been reduced to nothing.General Iroh has a theory, but it’s just a theory. Anyways, Katara is still the only waterbender in our entire tribe.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” Itzel said, in a soft tone that Sokka didn’t think she was capable of, “As protectors of the dragons, of our ancient culture, our elders decided that it would be best for us to remain hidden. I wish we could have fought.”

“No, you don’t,” Sokka said with a bitter laugh, “Trust me, it wasn’t all fun and games.”

“You were on the front lines, right?” Itzel asked.

Sokka shrugged, “Yes and no. I did help my dad lead the siege on the Day of Black Sun, and we did a ton of fighting on our journey, but I wasn’t actually in any official military, no. We had our own quest.”

“Which was just as dangerous, it seems. You were so young.”

“I still am!” Sokka joked, bumping shoulders with Itzel playfully, “But yeah, it’s weird because we  _ felt  _ like we were all grown up, like we knew everything, but I look back and realize how young we were.”

“The fate of the world, resting on the shoulders of teenagers. And now, you’re getting married, running a country, changing history.”

“Well, I really only wanted to do one of those things.”

When Itzel raised an eyebrow at him, Sokka sighed and continued.

“Zuko and I...we aren’t getting married of our own accord. The Fire Nation Elders and the Water Tribe Chiefs decided it would help the people of both our countries if Zuko married someone from the Water Tribe. There was literally no one in either of our tribes that was appropriate or available for Zuko...except for me.”

“Don’t you have a sister?” Itzel asked.

Sokka smiled, “Yeah. But she’s dating the Avatar, literally the  _ one person  _ nobody can say shit about.”

“So the marriage fell to you?”

“Yeah, but it’s not so bad. I mean, it  _ sucks,  _ don’t get me wrong, but it could be worse. Zuko’s one of my best friends, and we’re both kinda on the same page.”

“So...you don’t love each other?” Itzel prompted.

Sokka shrugged, “I love him as a friend, but...I’m not sure if it’ll be anything more than that. It’s complicated.”

“I...see.” Itzel shifted a little closer to Sokka.

Sokka didn’t move away.

“What about you?” Sokka asked, “You’re the Chief’s daughter, right? So are you engaged?”

Itzel laughed, “My father would not dare engage me to someone of his own will. No, I am perfectly happy as I am now.”

“That’s good. The last tribal princess I met was in an arranged marriage and it made her  _ miserable. _ ”

“Your moon spirit,” Itzel said, nodding at Sokka’s sword, “It is amazing that you are so close with a spirit.”

“Yeah, well, as amazing as it is,” Sokka said with a sigh, “it still hurts.” He looked up at the sky, which was now beginning to darken, “I don’t think I’ll ever really stop hurting.”

“Then that means you truly loved her.”

“I did. I still do.”

“Ah, I see. You cannot love your prince because you love your princess.”

“What? Oh, no.” Sokka shook his head, “It’s nothing like that – I care about Yue a lot, but I know we can never have a relationship, so it makes it...easier, I guess, to date. Fills in a sort of hole, I guess.”

Then, Sokka felt calloused fingers gently grab his cheek and turn his head to properly face Itzel, who was smirking.

“Perhaps I can help fill that void.”

When Itzel leaned forward and closed her eyes, Sokka didn’t stop her. In fact, he mirrored the action, bringing his hand up to rest on her waist as their lips met.

Sokka barely had any time to appreciate the kiss though, because a moment later, he heard a loud  _ ahem. _

Sokka immediately sprang back, his heart dropping into his feet. 

_ Oh my spirits it’s her dad and he’s going to kill me for kissing his daughter I am going to die oh shit. _

But as Sokka turned around, a panicked apology died on his tongue when he saw who was standing at the top of the stairs to the arena.

“I see you’re busy,” Zuko said hotly, turning on his heel and storming away.

“Zuko, wait!” Sokka cried, scrambling up and chasing after his fiancé.

Zuko didn’t slow down, but he wasn’t running, so Sokka caught up to him quickly.

“Look, I’m sorry. I know I should be helping you with the research,” Sokka said as Zuko kept striding forward.

“No, go ahead and make out with the locals!” Zuko snapped, pointedly not looking at Sokka as he made his way back to the temple, “I didn’t want you to come along anyways.”

“Look, I said I’m sorry!” Sokka stepped out in front of Zuko, forcing him to stop. He scowled deeply, and Sokka couldn’t help but be reminded of the times when Zuko actively hunted them down, “I promise I won’t goof off anymore – I made a big deal about coming along to help you out, and I shouldn’t be slacking off.”

“That’s not what I’m pissed about!”

Sokka blinked, “Then...what?”

Zuko stared at him in disbelief before huffing a cloud of steam from his nose and pushing past Sokka.

“Hey!” He protested, still following him, “C’mon man, talk to me!”

“Leave me alone.”

“Not until you tell me  _ why  _ you’re upset!” Sokka grabbed Zuko’s arm, which stopped him.

Zuko ripped his arm from Sokka’s grip though, and all but snarled at him, “ _ Fine. _ I just think it’s great that you’re making out with, with strangers while we’re  _ engaged. _ ”

“Alright, but that doesn’t matter here, right?” Sokka reasoned, “No one here cares about those politics, and I told Itzel that we weren’t like,  _ together  _ or anything. So it’s okay, right?”

“No! It’s not!” Zuko snapped.

“Well, why not?” Sokka demanded, now rather angry himself. 

“I don’t know!”

“Well, that’s helpful!”

“I just don’t know! Ugh!” Zuko pulled at his hair and turned away from Sokka, “I don’t know  _ why  _ I’m so pissed about you making out with Itzel, I just know it’s not right!”

“Look, if it pisses you off so much, I won’t do anything with Itzel. It was just that one kiss anyways.”

“Oh, so she doesn’t help you fill your void?”

Sokka felt his ears burn, flames of anger dancing inside him, “You were eavesdropping?!”

“No! I overheard you two! I was just gonna get you to come back for some food–”

“Yeah, sure,” Sokka said coldly, “Whatever, let’s just go and get ready for this stupid dragon.”

“If it’s so stupid, then why’d you insist on coming?!”

“Because I’m your  _ friend! _ ” Sokka snapped back, “I didn’t like that you were keeping secrets from me! And, what? Were you just gonna come here, and come back home with a dragon? And not answer  _ any  _ questions? Did you even think of that?”

Based on Zuko’s expression, he had not.

“I’m going to eat,” Sokka said with a tired sigh, turning away from Zuko, “I’ll meet you back in the chamber or whatever.”

“Yeah, fine.”

* * *

The next day was...awkward.

Sokka and Zuko worked in silence, though Sokka took regular breaks. Zuko never seemed to leave the room, but Sokka was more restless than before.

He did end up training with Itzel, and as they took a water break, she actually spoke to him.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” she began, “I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Yeah, well, I kissed back,” Sokka said, then he sighed, “And anyways, it’s not your fault. Like I said, the whole thing with Zuko and me right now is kinda complicated. I guess we’re still figuring out boundaries or whatever. I could’ve stopped you at any point, and I didn’t.”

“So...are you two…?”

“Still engaged?” Sokka smiled at Itzel, “Yeah, we couldn’t break that off if we tried, or we might have another war on our hands. I think we’re both still pissy about it, but we’ll figure it out. Friends fight, and so do fiancés I guess.”

“I guess so. Well, if it’s any consolation, I think you and Firelord Zuko would make a good couple.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

The next day was the summer solstice. Sokka, Zuko, and the Sun Warriors all waited outside the outer entrance of the temple. Chief Aapo was speaking to Zuko, and Sokka was nearby enough to hear.

“When the sun reaches its peak at noon, then you shall enter, and together, you and I shall do the Dancing Dragon to summon the egg. When the sunlight touches it, it shall hatch, and you will be there to greet the last dragon into the world.”

Zuko nodded, his face steely. Chief Aapo turned to his priest, who was burning incense and saying a prayer.

“Hey,” Sokka said quietly, stepping closer to Zuko, “I just wanna say I’m sorry. Again.”

Zuko sighed, “Now is not really the best time to do this, Sokka.”

“What? Apologize?”

“Can’t this wait until after I’ve got the dragon?”

“No, because I don’t want you to greet the dragon and be grumpy!”

Zuko sighed again, “Alright. Fine. Thank you for the apology.”

“You’re welcome. Now, we really should talk about boundaries.”

“Sokka.”

“Not right now, necessarily!” Sokka defended, putting his hands up, “I mean, like, on the way home or something. We both said that we were trying to figure stuff out on our own, right? But we never really said what that would  _ look  _ like.”

“Sokka if it ‘looks’ like you’re running around having affairs,” Zuko hissed, “then that’s not great.”

“See? We’re already figuring out boundaries.”

Zuko groaned in response, and he probably would have said something else, but then Chief Aapo spoke.

“The time has come! Firelord Zuko, son of Ursa, stop forward!”

Zuko took a deep breath and Sokka patted him on the shoulder. He stepped forward just as the light hit the giant red gem at the top of the door, and the golden doors began to open.

Just then, Chief Aapo walked over to Sokka and spoke quietly.

“Do you know how to do the Dancing Dragon?”

“Uh...vaguely?” Sokka replied, just as quiet, “Zuko taught me a while back, and I could just follow the statues. Why?”

“I understand my vision better now…” Chief Aapo said, “It is not I who should be in there with Zuko, but  _ you. _ You must  _ both  _ imprint on the dragon.”

“Wait, what?”

But before Sokka could do anything more, Chief Appo shoved him forward. He stumbled into the room as the doors shut, the sun piercing through the gem, turning the whole room a bright red.

“Sokka!” Zuko yelled, “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know!” Sokka cried, “The Chief just said it was supposed to be the two of us, then he shoved me in here!”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know! Look, we can debate this, or we can get that dragon.”

Zuko glanced at the ruby and nodded, “Alright.”

The two of them took their places at the beginning of the semi-circle, starting the motions of the dance. Sokka was clumsier than Zuko, as he hadn’t really needed to use the firebending move. However, as they brought their fists together in the final stance, there was one loud  _ click _ , and they turned to see the egg rising from the stones.

They glanced at each other before stepping back, watching with bated breath as the golden egg was slowly bathed in direct sunlight from the gem’s glow.

“Nothing’s happening,” Zuko grumbled after a moment, “Should something be happening?”

“Chill out,” Sokka said, not taking his eyes off the egg, “The Chief said that it might take a minute to warm the egg.”

Sure enough, a moment later, the egg wobbled, and a crack began to form. Both of them rushed forward to steady it, their fingers covering each other as they grabbed the egg and more cracks formed. Sokka might have said something, but he was far too distracted by the incredibly amazing thing that was happening before them.

After a few more cracks, a tiny hole appeared at the top, and a single talon stuck out. It began pushing, breaking the egg even further.

“C’mon,” Zuko said, carefully peeling away the golden layer, “We gotta help.”

“Right.”

Gently, the two of them helped break open the egg, until the top half was littered on the floor.

The two of them stared in awe, their argument forgotten, at the red baby dragon before them.

It was curled up in its egg, feeling around, its eyes shut. Sokka and Zuko took a moment to appreciate it, before Sokka remembered something he’d read.

“Ah! I think we have to wipe it down, otherwise it can’t open its eyes.”

“Right.” 

Zuko had a cloth on hand for this purpose, and he began to gently wipe the dragon while Sokka held the egg steady.

When Zuko was done, the dragon opened its eyes, looking up at them with big amber orbs and crooning softly.

Sokka grinned, “Aw, Zuko. He has your eyes.”


	16. The Trip Part V: The Western Air Temple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all!!11 Here's the chapter, as always, it comes up on my patreon a week early lol. also I'm debating chainging the name of this fic because uh... it's gaining traction and I hate the name lol. It's so dumb. I will be taking naming suggestions. anywaysm thanks for the support!
> 
> and happy reading:)

The next few days were...hectic. 

Zuko and Sokka stayed in the temple and continued learning as much as they could about their new dragon, since they wouldn’t be able to do so when they went back home. 

The baby dragon usually just slept, sitting on Zuko’s head or in his lap. That was normal apparently, as baby dragons spent their first few weeks just sleeping and eating. But that didn’t mean the dragon could be left alone –  _ ohhhh no,  _ he needed constant attention, and Zuko had to regularly check his body temperature. 

Interestingly, Sokka never left Zuko, except to bring him stuff like food or extra blankets. They hadn’t really had a chance to talk about, well,  _ anything _ except for the dragon. Things were a little awkward, but neither of them had had the chance to address it; they were just too stressed out about making sure they took care of the dragon properly, as they would be leaving soon. Chief Aapo had stressed that the first few days were  _ crucial,  _ and although nothing had happened, both Sokka and Zuko were on edge, watching the dragon’s every move.

About five days after the Solstice, Sokka and Zuko were given the go-ahead by Chief Aapo to return home to the palace. It was early in the afternoon when they finished packing up their balloon, the dragon sleeping soundly on Zuko’s shoulders.

“Thank you,” Zuko said once they were ready, bowing to Chief Aapo and Itzel, who had come to see them off, “This is a great honour – I will make sure to take care of him.”

“I am sure he will thrive under your care and guidance,” Aapo said with a smile, “We Sun Warriors developed a saying; ‘the world will truly begin its recovery when the Firelord once again sits upon a dragon’. I know you are making incredible progress with Avatar Aang, and the best is yet to come.”

“Thank you, that is...that’s very comforting,” Zuko admitted.

“As for you, Sokka of the Water Tribe,” Aapo said, turning to him and smiling, “You are the bridge between the sun and the moon, and your guidance will bring the world back into prosperity and kindness. You will make a spectacular leader because you have feet in two worlds, eyes in two places.”

“Um...thanks?” Sokka said with a smile, clearly not understanding what the chief meant. In all honesty, Zuko didn’t really know either. 

“Be safe,” Itzel said curtly.

The two men bowed once again before heading to their balloon. They waved as they took off, Zuko’s dragon even lifting his head and squawking slightly.

The two of them flew quietly, enjoying the peace of the sky. They were relatively quiet until they reached the Western Air Temple, where they made camp. They were not in the same spot as before, but at a different part of the temple, sleeping in one of the old Air Nomad dorms. They didn’t sleep on any of the nooks for the beds, but rather on the floor, building a fire in the room because it had lots of large windows, so it was warm but didn’t smoke up the room. 

“Man, this please sure is creepy,” Sokka said as they sat by the fire, the dragon in Sokka’s lap. 

“Yeah,” Zuko admitted, glancing around him, “I miss camping out in that atrium.”

“Certainly brings back memories,” Sokka joked, “That, and I feel like I’m less likely to be possessed.”

“You do have a tendency to catch spirits’ attention.”

“Lies. Name  _ one  _ time a spirit –”

“You were kidnapped by a forest spirit and spent a day in the Spirit World.”

“Doesn’t count, he kidnapped a bunch of other people.”

“Weren’t you the one that found Wan Shi Tong’s library?”

“It was sticking right out of the sand! It was obvious!”

“Katara told me that when you guys were in the Swamp, you were the only one that actually talked to a spirit.”

“It was a hallucination!”

“You got the literal  _ moon  _ to fall in love with you,” Zuko pointed out.

“She wasn’t the moon when I  _ met  _ her!” Sokka protested, “She was a perfectly normal, beautiful human girl.”

“Not really – she was blessed by the moon spirit when she was a baby, right? So she was at least part spirit.”

“Well I didn’t know that at the time!” Sokka sighed and leaned on his side, his head propped up on his elbow, “I just thought that she was the most beautiful girl that I’d ever seen, and I knew I had to shoot my shot.”

Zuko scoffed, “Yeah? How did that go?”

“Oh, I made myself look like an idiot and choked on some arctic eels.”

Zuko laughed and saw that Sokka was grinning at him. He suddenly felt hot, so he cleared his throat and spoke.

“Right. And how did you first meet Suki?”

Sokka groaned, “She and the other Kyoshi Warriors tied us up and then I challenged her to a fight and got my ass beat in front of all her friends.” 

“And when you met me, you hit me in the head with a boomerang then threw me overboard.”

“In my defense,” Sokka laughed, “you  _ were  _ attacking my village and kidnapped my friend. Being the tribe’s greatest warrior, I had to do something. I couldn’t just let a tyrant burn my village down.”

“Of course,” Zuko replied with a slight smile, his hand slowly petting his dragon as it slept, “But that means that all three of your relationships started with you being an idiot, and two of them you tried and failed to fight.”

“Oh, so you're counting yourself as one of my relationships?” Sokka teased.

“I am wearing your betrothal necklace.”

“Fair point.”

They both watched the fire for a moment before Sokka spoke again.

“You know, this whole trip is doing nothing but digging up memories. It’s kinda nice.”

“Yeah. If you really wanted to bring up more memories, I could try to burn you alive.”

“Only so long as you yell about your honour the entire time.”

They both laughed and Sokka continued.

“But seriously, it’s kind of cool to see how far we’ve come, how much of that was in a year. We started out on opposite sides of a war and now we’re getting married to solidify peace.”

“Speaking of...we need to talk about boundaries.”

“Yeah,” Sokka sighed, “Again, man, I’m sorry about the thing with Itzel. She was hot and I was exhausted and –”

“It’s  _ fine, _ ” Zuko snapped, then he took a breath, “I get it. What we have is….complicated. I know we’re both trying to figure things out on our own, which is fine, but we need to lay down some rules.”

“That’s very fair,” Sokka said, “So, what are you thinking?”

“You can’t go around making out with people in public.”

“Fair.”

“Also, any and all Fire Nation nobility is off limits. The upper class has a horrible tendency to gossip, and no matter how hard you try, your secrets will not stay safe.”

“Alright, so stick to the peasants. Got it. Anything else”

“Preferably don’t go for any palace staff. Also bad for gossip.”

“So I can go for the working class, but not any palace staff. That eliminates like, 50% of the Capital City,” Sokka joked.

“Would you rather sleep with the whole city?”

“Woah, woah!” Sokka sat up and looked at Zuko, appearing to be concerned, “If you’re not okay with this, I can just  _ not  _ flirt with anyone. That’s an option.”

“But...I may never…”

“If it makes you uncomfortable,” Sokka offered, “I won’t do anything. If it becomes an issue with me in the future, I’ll let you know.”

“Um...right. I appreciate that.”

“Of course man. You’re not just my best friend anymore, you’re my fiancé.”

Zuko nodded, staring into the fire.

“Right. Well, uh...I kind of wanted to ask you some stuff.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Zuko took a breath and looked down at the dragon in his lap rather than Sokka.

“When...how...did you know you liked boys?”

Sokka chuckled and leaned back on his hands, “I was wondering if you were gonna ask me about it. Well, Katara and I were the only kids our age in the village. Either everyone was a couple years older or a couple years younger, so it’s not like I had any experience, especially since all the older men in my village left when I was a kid. I didn’t really think about it until we started travelling,  _ but,  _ I do remember this one time…” Sokka laughed and shook his head, “Aw, man. Dad was teaching me how to sharpen my boomerang, and one of the warriors, he’s a few years older than us, he was in the room cleaning his club. There was a fire, and it was kinda hot in there, and he took his shirt off. I knew then that I  _ definitely  _ liked guys.”

Zuko chuckled, “That simple, huh?’

“For me it was, but it’s different for everyone.” Sokka shrugged, “Sometimes you see something and just  _ know,  _ sometimes you have to experience it.”

“Hmm. I see. Well...any advice?”

Sokka hummed thoughtfully before responding, “Maybe play the field? I doubt you had that moment of clarity like I did, so maybe it needs to be a bit more obvious for you.”

Zuko sighed, “Aang gave me similar advice.”

“Really? I give advice as good as the Avatar’s?”

“You just have similar ideas,” Zuko replied, “But, if two of my friends suggest the same thing, maybe it would be best to listen to you.” Zuko shifted, suddenly finding himself uncomfortable, “So...have you...ever...I mean with a guy?”

Sokka laughed, “Yeah, actually. It was  _ not  _ Katara that had a secret fling with Haru.”

“Seriously?” Zuko asked, feeling himself smiling, “That earthbender guy whom you broke out of prison?”

“Yeah. He was super thankful to all of us, and he thought I was a genius for coming up with that plan. I mean, I  _ am  _ a genius, and he just made out with me as recognition.”

“Was it any good?”

“Pretty solid, not gonna lie. I think Suki’s the best kisser though.”

“ _ Oh,  _ my spirits!” Zuko suddenly cried, stirring the dragon from his sleep, “I just remembered that time when I walked into your tent, and you – _ ha _ – you had a rose in your mouth and your hair was down and you had candles  _ everywhere.” _

“Ugh, I remember that,” Sokka said with a groan as he flopped onto his sleeping bag, throwing an arm over his face, “I still remember your face – man I’m sorry, that must’ve been so awkward.”

“It’s okay, we all kinda knew. Well, Katara, Aang, and I knew. Toph probably suspected, but I do think she actually knew. Anyways, I thought it was sweet of you to make it all romantic like that.”

“Ah well, I am a romantic at heart, and I had to make the first time special, y’know? And I mean, we were in the middle of the war, on the run in enemy territory, facing down a powerful tyrant. It was nice to just be kids for a bit.”

“That’s sweet,” Zuko mused, “I’m sure it was appreciated.”

“Yeah. So uh,” Sokka cleared his throat and moved his arm to smirk at Zuko, “Are you as pure and untouched as the winter’s first snow?”

“Sokka, I’m twenty.”

“Hey! No judgement!”

“ _ No,  _ I am not a virgin.”

“Mai?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice. I never said it because I thought it was awkward and she was your girlfriend and all, but Mai’s hot. Not my  _ type,  _ per se, but she’s hot.”

Zuko shrugged, “I guess.”

Sokka frowned, “You don’t think your ex is hot?”

“I don’t know! She was pretty, I guess.”

“You  _ guess _ ?”

“What?” Zuko demanded.

“Dude,” Sokka said as he sat up and looked at his fiancé earnestly, “be completely honest with me: have you ever thought  _ any  _ girl was hot? Have you ever actually been sexually attracted to a girl? And I promise that if you say Katara, I won’t be mad.”

“I’ve never had a crush on Katara. She’s pretty, but I never wanted to kiss her.”

“Did you ever actually  _ want  _ to kiss Mai?”

“Of course!”

“Did you  _ want  _ to, or did you just feel like you  _ should _ ?”

“....Huh.”

Sokka laughed.

“ _ What _ ?”

“Nothing!” Sokka managed, though he was clutching his side.

“No, there’s something!”

“It’s just…” Sokka took a breath, “You’ve never actually  _ wanted  _ to kiss a girl, not even your serious girlfriend, and you never entertained the idea that you might not be attracted to women?”

“Did you forget how I was raised?”

“Alright, fair point. But anyways, so we can probably say that you’re not attracted to women,” Sokka reasoned, “What about men? Has there ever been any boy that you were attracted to? Any guy you thought was hot?”

“Yeah, you.”

The words fell from his lips before he’d even really comprehended the fact that he had even spoken them. 

The fire crackled and the dragon huffed in his sleep as the two men stared at each other, each comprehending the words that had just been said. It felt like a year, but in reality it was only a couple of moments.

“So, um, you thought of a name for him yet?”

“Um, yeah, actually,” Zuko said, looking down at the dragon in his lap, thankful for the excuse to look away from Sokka’s  _ very  _ blue eyes and  _ not  _ think about how pretty they looked in the firelight, “I was thinking Druk. Aang told me some stories about an Air Nomad who had a dragon instead of a bison, and he apparently breathed lightning instead of fire. All legends and myths, probably, but...I thought it was cool.”

“I like it,” Sokka said, looking at the red dragon, “Druk. I think it suits him.”

“Me too.”

“I’m tired.”

“Me too.”

“Right. Goodnight Zuko.”

“Goodnight Sokka.”

The two of them curled into their sleeping bags, Druk on Zuko’s pillow beside him. He stifled a groan, still unbelieving of what he had just said to Sokka.

_ I literally never want to open my mouth ever again. _


	17. The Return Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok wow! I wanna say sory for the inactivity lately – I just finished my exams. I'm not working a ton, so I hope to be pumping out a couple more chapters of stuff within the next few days, which I'll post here.   
> Hope y'all're safe, and as always, happy reading:)

Zuko and Sokka hardly spoke the next day, packing and taking to the skies almost silently. It wasn’t until they saw a familiar volcano in the distance that Sokka said something.

“Remember when we broke out of the highest-security prison in the world?”

Zuko smiled a bit as he came away from the boiler to stand beside Sokka, looking over the edge. Druk sat on his shoulders, sleeping soundly. 

“I still can’t believe we managed to do that.”

“Well, it’s not the first time I’ve orchestrated a jailbreak.”

Zuko raised an eyebrow at him.

“Haru and his dad and a bunch of Earthbenders,” Sokka explained with a shrug, “were all taken to this rig in the ocean so they couldn’t bend anything. Katara couldn’t leave it alone, so we broke them out.”

“How did you manage that?” Zuko asked.

“There was coal on the rig – coal is earth, so it’s bendable. There was this massive vent system on the rig that connected to all the coal, so Aang used his airbending to send it to the main yard. Y’know, they almost didn’t fight, even though they had the coal right in front of them.”

“Really? Why?” Zuko frowned, “If they had weapons, why not use them?”

“They were scared, and broken.” Sokka sighed as he stared down at the volcano as they passed, the prison within their sights in the centre of the lake, “They weren’t like the people we met in the Boiling Rock. They weren’t criminals, rebel leaders, pirates. They were just...people. Just villagers, regular folks who were just trying to live their lives. They were imprisoned for being benders, something that they prided themselves on, and then they all but had that bending taken away from them. Some of them had been in there for years, they’d almost forgotten what it was like to bend.” Sokka shrugged, “I never knew what that was like, so I never  _ totally  _ got it, but Katara did. She was the one that stood up and convinced them to fight. Honestly, she was ready to try and fight an entire prison’s worth of soldiers, and that was enough for Haru, and Haru’s dad just wanted to protect him, and his dad was kinda the leader, so everyone followed him.”

“So you orchestrated a prison break,” Zuko summed up, “Aang helped, and Katara basically inspired a revolution?”

“Basically, yeah. So I guess you could say I’m a master at prison breaks.”

“I’d hardly call you a  _ master, _ ” Zuko scoffed, “You had two successful prison breaks.”

“Two and a half. My first plan at the Boiling Rock would’ve worked.”

“I’ll let you think that.”

“Hey! I didn’t see you coming up with any plans!” Sokka said with a laugh as he jostled Zuko’s shoulder.

“Hey! I helped you, and supported you!” Zuko protested.

“Yeah, well, Suki did most of the legwork.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I was a little busy being interrogated by my ex-girlfriend’s uncle!”

“Alright, that’s fair,” Sokka admitted, “And we couldn’t have managed the first plan without you getting stuck in the Cooler – which was pretty badass.”

Zuko just shrugged sheepishly, scratching Druk’s head.

The two of them watched the volcano pass under them, and once it was behind them, Sokka spoke again.

“Y’know, I have to admit something. It has to do with what you said last night.”

Zuko groaned and turned back to the boiler, despite them being on speed and at the right height.

“You don’t need to bring it up, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Well, it was a nice ego booster,” Sokka joked, “good to know my fiancé thinks I’m attractive. So, I thought I’d return the favour.”

“Sokka, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”

“I’m not gonna lie,” Sokka assured, turning to look at Zuko, leaning against the railing, “I don’t lie – unless it’s for a good reason. And I’ve never lied to you.”

“I feel like that’s a lie.”

“It’s not! Even when you were chasing us, I never lied! Mostly because you never talked to me of course, you kinda just spent most of your time trying to capture Aang, but it’s true!”

“Fine. So what did you want to tell me?”

“When we were in the prison,” Sokka began, trying to sound as confident as he could, “and I came to get you out of the Cooler…” he took a breath, “You breathed fire with that cocky smirk and...it was hot, man.”

Zuko scoffed, “Is that a pun?”

“Maybe. But it’s the truth.”

“Oh.”

Zuko’s back was turned to him, so Sokka couldn’t see his reaction, but he could see how tense Zuko’s shoulders looked.

_ I should stop. _

“There’s...something else.”

Zuko didn’t respond.

“At the party – our engagement party I mean, we both got pretty drunk.”

“I remember the hangover.” 

Zuko sounded like he was trying for humour but...tense at the same time.

“Right, well, you forgot everything after our dance. Well, I think you said you blacked out about halfway through it, so you don’t remember what happened at the end.”

Zuko still didn’t turn around as he spoke, “No. I don’t remember what happened.”

“We, um. We kissed.”

Zuko did not react.

So, Sokka continued.

“Well,  _ you  _ kissed  _ me,  _ but I definitely kissed back. I was pretty drunk, but I thought it was a good kiss. Anyways, you don’t really need to say anything, but I just thought you should know. I kinda didn’t wanna say anything, just in case it made things awkward, and I know we’re trying to figure this thing out together – but I thought hey, maybe this’ll help you figure out your sexuality. I know it was when we were drunk and I first thought that maybe  _ you  _ thought I was Mai or something, but. Yeah. Yeah.”

Zuko still hadn’t moved, staring at the boiler. Sokka drummed his hands nervously on the rail behind him, waiting for Zuko to say something, to react. But he stood as still as a statue, and Sokka began to worry that he’d broken the Firelord. 

Finally, after what felt like hours, Zuko spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?” Sokka asked, taken aback, “Why’re you sorry? I’m the one that didn’t tell you.”

“I don’t – I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“It’s alright,” Sokka assured, “We’re engaged and you were drunk and it was fun. I sure didn’t mind. Like I said, it’s not like it was  _ bad. _ ”

“You aren’t interested in me,” Zuko said in a monotone, plain voice,  _ still  _ not turning to face Sokka, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Uh. About that.” Sokka cleared his throat, “Since I’m laying everything out on the table, I may as well just come clean.”

Zuko’s head did turn, but not entirely. Just barely glancing at him over his shoulder.

“I uh. I may have changed my stance on that. I mean, I always thought that you were hot – objectively speaking. But recently...it’s kind of developed into something else.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I may – okay well, I  _ do  _ – have romantic feelings for you. I didn’t want to say anything because  _ again,  _ I know you’re trying to do your own thing and I didn’t want to interfere with that. So yeah. I think that’s everything you gotta know.”

Zuko finally turned around, though his expression was hard to read. His face was steely, his eyes fiery. Sokka’sfirst thought was that Zuko was angry, but he didn’t look like that when he was angry – Zuko was not the kind to get angry quietly. If Sokka had to guess, he’d say that Zuko’s expression was  _ determined. _

Sokka just stood there anxiously as Zuko moved towards him, taking the two steps that spanned the space between them. He braced the metal on either side of Sokka, now close enough that their noses were almost touching, and Sokka could see the small flecks of red in Zuko’s amber eyes.

Zuko stopped, his warm breath ghosting across Sokka’s face. Sokka’s heart pounded in his chest, and he expected Zuko to make a move, but it seemed like he was waiting for something.

“What’re you thinking about right now?” Sokka asked, his voice quiet, almost a whisper.

“I’m thinking,” Zuko said slowly, matching Sokka’s volume and breathless tone, “that I want to try something. But I don’t want to unless you do as well.”

Sokka nodded, just slightly. Reflexively, his tongue darted across his lips, and he saw Zuko’s eyes glance down to catch the movement.

“Yeah,” he managed, “Yeah. I’m game.”

Zuko nodded in affirmation before closing his eyes and the distance between them.

Sokka was ready for it – he knew what Zuko was going to do, but somehow, it still shocked him.

Perhaps because Zuko was entirely sober.

Nonetheless, he melted into the kiss easily, lifting a hand to Zuko’s face. 

His lips were soft,and pliant. After he faltered for a moment, Sokka took the lead, and Zuko happily followed. 

He stepped ever closer, pushing Sokka against the metal, one hand coming to rest on his hips. Sokka tangled one of his hands in Zuko’s hair, the other winding around his neck –

_ Squawk! _

“Ouch!” Sokka yelped as he pulled back, shaking his hand and looking at the little teeth marks on the side of it.

“Are you alright?” Zuko asked, taking his hands away and stepping back, “Did I do something?”

“No, it was Druk.” Sokka glowered at the dragon who blew an indignant puff of smoke before curling back around Zuko’s shoulders, “I forgot he was on your neck.”

“Oh.” Zuko’s face suddenly turned very red, as if he had just realized what they’d been doing. Before he could panic, Sokka took control of the conversation.

“So, how’d you like it?”

“It was – it was nice. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me,” Sokka said with a laugh, leaning back on the rail, his elbows resting on it, “We’re engaged, and you can kiss me anytime you want. And anything else, if you feel like it.” Sokka winked, which made Zuko blush even deeper.

“I think I’ll take it slow,” he said, “If that’s alright with you.”

“Hey,” Sokka said with a shrug, “no rush – we’re gonna be spending the rest of our lives together. You can take it as slow as you want to.”

That seemed to put Zuko at ease, because his shoulders finally released their tension and he smiled.

“Can I kiss you again?”

“Please.”

* * *

When they finally arrived back at the palace, it was almost sunset. They’d obviously been spotted flying in, because some Sages, Advisors, and servants were waiting by the landing area.

“Firelord Zuko has returned!” One of the Sages boomed as their balloon touched down. The two stepped out of it, watching the faces before them turn into expressions of shock.

“Firelord Zuko!” The Sage gasped, “Is-is that a  _ dragon _ ?”

“Yes,” Zuko said calmly, “His name is Druk.”

“How can this be?” Advisor Zenji cried, “Dragons haven’t been seen since I was a boy!”

“Well, we found one.”

“But  _ how _ ?” Zenji pressed.

“Sorry,” Sokka said with a smile, “it’s a secret.”

“Oh,” one of the other Advisors said bitterly, “so the  _ Consort  _ can know, but not your loyal servants?”

“Of course,” Zuko replied, “he’s my fiancé – I tell him everything. Or perhaps you’d like me to disclose everything to you as well, including personal matters?”

“Yes!” Zenji declared, “Yes! We need this information! Tell us! What happened on the journey?”

“Well, we travelled north, I found a golden egg that hatched on the Solstice, we made camp, and I discovered that Sokka is an excellent kisser.”

Sokka couldn’t help but laugh at Zenji’s face, which was so red it nearly looked purple. It even made Zuko smile – an image more beautiful than the sunset.


	18. The Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am having SO MUCH fun with this one. Also it's a post-canon Zukka fic so I will be fitting as many tropes as I can in here lol
> 
> Thanks, and happy reading!

Zuko expected things to be different – things  _ were  _ different, now that he and Sokka were actually, romantically together, and they had a baby dragon to look after.

But Zuko still started his day with tea and wandered the gardens, with the only difference being the now-familiar weight of a dragon resting on his shoulders. When he had breakfast with Sokka, the two still talked idly, though Sokka sat much closer and greeted him with a peck on the cheek.

Sokka had always been a very affectionate person. Zuko had seen it when they were travelling together with Suki, how open with his adoration Sokka had been. He couldn’t help but wonder if it would be the same.

“So,” Sokka said, halfway through his breakfast, “what’s on today’s agenda?”

“Nothing too exciting,” Zuko said, “Renovations are still going on in the throne room, so we’re still operating out of the banquet hall. We do have a couple of Earth Kingdom dignitaries and tradesmen coming in to discuss official trade routes to the south, and next steps with some of the older colonies, then some budgetary stuff.” Zuko sighed, “I never realized how  _ boring  _ being Firelord is.”

“Zuko, we haven’t even been back a day,” Sokka said with a laugh.

“I know, which is what’s so miserable about it. I almost miss being on the run, getting into fights with my sister at every turn.”

“It did have its charm,” Sokka admitted, “and I know Azula is banished and we have no idea where she is, but we could always piss off Katara and fight  _ her _ .”

“We both know we’d lose.”

“Yeah, it’s a full moon tonight.”

They both laughed, stirring Druk from his sleep. Sokka noticed and tossed him a berry, which he caught deftly, munching loudly.

Deciding he liked Sokka’s attention better than Zuko’s shoulder, he crawled off Zuko’s arm, scampered across the table, and curled up in his lap, looking expectantly at the table.

“I think I’m his favourite,” Sokka said smugly as he cut up a piece of sausage and fed it to Druk.

“I think he’s just hungry.”

“Excuses.”

Zuko smiled, and Sokka reached over and kissed him quickly, leaning back with a grin.

“What was that for?”

“You’re cute when you smile.”

Zuko felt his face heat up, and Sokka laughed.

“Oh, man,” he said as he tossed Druk a grape, “I was getting worried I’d run out of ways to make you all flustered – good thing we’re  _ actually  _ fiancés now, so I can do stuff like that.”

“Why do you worry so much about making me flustered? I remember you doing it when I first joined the group, during the war.”

Sokka shrugged, “At first, I did it in some kind of petty revenge – you  _ had  _ tried to kill us multiple times, so I thought it only fair to poke fun.”

“That’s...fair.”

“Exactly. And then we became friends, and you know that I show affection through sarcasm and roasts.”

“Obviously.”

“And recently…” Sokka chuckled, “Well, I started to really like how you looked when your face turned all red and you got all tongue-tied. It was cute. It still is.”

“I-I’m not  _ cute _ .”

“You’re adorable, and your life will be a lot easier once you admit it.”

“I believe I have lost my appetite.” Zuko stood from the table.

“Aw, no!” Sokka protested, but he was laughing as he did so. He did reach for Zuko’s hand though, effectively stopping him, “What time should I meet you for the meetings?”

“You’re really going to sit in on these boring meetings?”

“Of course! They’re boring, but they’re important. Besides, if we’re talking about trade routes to the south, I think it would be a good idea to make the Southern Water Tribe a stop on the route. We have lots of exportable goods.”

“That’s a really good point,” Zuko said, “Well, if you insist on coming, the meeting starts in about an hour. I’m going to go get ready.”

“Alright. See you then.” Sokka pressed a soft kiss to the back of Zuko’s hand, then smirked up at him.

Zuko just yanked his hand away, face burning as Sokka laughed. He turned and went back into the castle, trying to even his breathing before he got himself too worked up and burnt his clothes.

Zuko had never been an especially touchy person. He certainly didn’t  _ mind  _ physical affection – he’d always adored his mother’s hugs, loved his uncle’s gentle touches,  _ basked  _ in the group hungs the gang dragged him into.

Okay, so maybe he really liked physical affection, but he wasn’t used to it like this. Mai had never been an overly affectionate person, which was fine! She was subtle, and showed her love as such. He’d learned to look for it.

But with Sokka, he didn’t need to look, because he was showing it every opportunity he had. Sokka was an open scroll, begging to be read. 

That was dangerous, in a royal court. Zuko knew politicians were manipulative people with little regard to others. He’d grown up around them, so he’d gotten pretty good at moving around them, figuring out how to get what he wanted. Sokka was clever, but he still had trouble figuring that out. Zuko was sure he’d figure it out soon – Sokka was smart like that.

“Lee?”

He paused in his walk, wondering if he had heard right.

“Lee? From the Jasmine Dragon?”

He turned in shock to see an Earth Kingdom lord approaching him, a surprised smile on his face.

Amazingly, Zuko recognized him.

He didn’t recognize very many Earth Kingdom dignitaries, as they all tended to kind of blur together after so many meetings. But this man, he knew. Lord Fung. He was a  _ very  _ wealthy tradesman who lived in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se and frequented his uncle’s shop. He’d been a nice man, in all honesty. Tipped well. It shouldn’t have surprised him that Fung was there – he was rich and powerful. What  _ did  _ surprise him however, was that Fung recognized him as  _ Lee  _ rather than  _ Firelord Zuko _ .

He glanced down at himself, at the Earth kingdom clothes he was wearing. They were comfortable, and were left over from his time as Lee and when he did wish to not be recognized. He wasn’t wearing his crown – his hair was tied in a low ponytail, as he’d planned to actually do it before the meeting.

“My, what are you doing here?” Lord Fung asked as he approached, “All the way in the Fire Nation?”

Now, Zuko was presented with two options.

One: explain that he was actually Firelord Zuko and that Lee had merely been his cover name while on the run from the Fire Nation before fighting his father and laugh about it later.

Two: go along with the illusion and laugh about it now.

Perhaps it was because he was spending so much time with Sokka, but Zuko decided to go with option two.

“You’ll never believe it,” he said, smiling pleasantly, “Some Fire Nation Elders and dignitaries visited our tea shop while they were in Ba Sing Se talking to the King, and they loved our tea. Enough so that they brought me back here to make them tea in their meetings.”

“That’s wonderful!” Fung declared, clapping a hand on Zuko’s shoulder, “I’m so happy for you! But, and don’t think me rude, I do hope the Jasmine Dragon remains in Ba Sing Se?”

Zuko nodded, “My uncle is too old to travel, and he likes Ba Sing Se a lot. He’s there with the tea shop, but I’m here.”

“Is this permanent?”

“It depends on whether the Firelord likes my tea,” Zuko said with a shrug.

“Oh, are you serving today’s meeting?” Fung asked eagerly, then he laughed, “Well, now I am  _ actually  _ excited for this meeting. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but these meetings are dreadful.”

“So I’ve heard.” Zuko cracked a small smile.

“Now, what is this?” He asked, gesturing to Zuko’s neck, “I don’t remember you wearing any jewellery?”

“Ah, this,” Zuko said, lifting a hand to his necklace, “an engagement gift from my fiancé. It’s a Water Tribe tradition.”

“Congratulations!” Fung cheered, “Good to see you’re doing well for yourself.”

Zuko nodded before bowing slightly, “I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me. I need to prepare for the meeting.”

“Oh! Oh of course!” Fung assured, waving his hand dismissively, “I can’t get in the way of your wondrous tea. Go on, I suppose I’ll see you in the meeting.”

Zuko nodded and walked off to his rooms, leaving Fung to wander the palace. He couldn’t help but snicker to himself once he was out of earshot.

* * *

It took Zuko longer than anticipated to make tea.

It had been a while since he made it for so many people, and he’d never been particularly quick about it. But after taste-testing it, it seemed worthy of the meeting, so he gathered the pots in a tray, asked some serving staff to follow him with the cups on different trays.

When he walked into the room, he was pleasantly surprised to see Sokka at the right-hand seat with Druk on his shoulders, wearing more official Water Tribe clothes but also his hair ornament. He was telling a story to the group that had them smiling at least and guffawing at best.

“–and  _ that’s  _ how you start a prison riot!” Then he noticed Zuko and stood, causing the others to stand as well.

Zuko saw Lord Fung staring at him and the servants with shock, and also a tad bit of fear. 

Zuko took his seat at the head of the table, a servant placing two cups in front of him, as well as a teapot. Zuko took the teapot with a quiet  _ thanks  _ and said he’d pour it himself. It was custom for the Firelord to have his own teapot, but Zuko happily shared his with Sokka, and poured both of their cups himself.

Once he had, Druk woke up and skittered over to Zuko, resting on his shoulders, resting between the curves.

“Thank you all for coming,” Zuko began as the servants poured tea for the rest of the group, “I know it is not an especially easy trip to make.”

“Especially from the South Pole,” one dignitary said in a light tone, gesturing with his cup towards Sokka, “Are we officially opening trade with the Water Tribes?”

“I’m only Ambassador to the South,” Sokka admitted, “But I have no doubt that our sister tribe would be more than happy to open trade routes as well. Before the war, both tribes were cultural hubs, and it’s a goal of mine to return my home to its former glory.”

“As do we all,” another dignitary said, “Now, I believe that the best way to do so would be the Ta-Mei Valley…”

And just like that, the meeting had become as boring and tedious as ever. Zuko and Sokka spoke evenly with the dignitaries, and he was happy that they were able to establish proper trade routes. The meeting ended with a tentative path and Sokka’s promise to contact his father and Chief Arnook immediately with the new plans.

The dignitaries stood up while Zuko dismissed them, chatting quietly as they filed out of the room. As they did, Sokka leaned over and whispered to Zuko.

“What’s with the tea? Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice treat, but why?”

“He’s why,” Zuko said, nodding to Lord Fung as he approached them. They stopped talking as Fung bowed deeply.

“Your Majesty,” he said, visibly sweating, “I had no idea – I meant you no disrespect.”

“None was taken,” Zuko assured, “Please, have a seat.”

Nervously, Fung sat down across from Sokka, who raised an eyebrow at Zuko, but didn’t say anything.

“Are you...I apologize Firelord Zuko, but…?”  
“I am also Lee from the tea shop,” Zuko confirmed, “During my three-year banishment, my uncle and I spent some time as refugees seeking shelter in Ba Sing Se. At that point, we were in hiding, on the run from the rest of my family. It’s true that my Uncle Iroh still runs The Jasmine Dragon, but I only work there occasionally. My main commitment is Firelord.”

Understanding dawned on Sokka’s face, and he grinned. Fung seemed to be made even  _ more  _ nervous by this, as he stuttered a bit.

“I-I see. So...you are not here to serve tea.”

“No, though I am happy to. The tea served at today’s meeting was made by me. I’m afraid it would have taken far too long if I had served everyone myself.”

Zuko noticed Fung’s questioning glance towards Sokka. He knew it had not gone amiss that Zuko had poured Sokka’s tea, and continued to do so for the rest of the meeting. 

“I am always happy to serve my fiancé.”

“Ah. I see. Well, the grandest of congratulations to the two of you.”

“Thank you, Lord Fung. You may go now, if you’d like. No hard feelings.”

Fung sighed in relief and smiled as he stood, bowing before he left the room. Once he had, and his footsteps faded, Sokka burst into laughter, startling Druk from his sleep.

“That poor man!” He wheezed, clutching his side, “He looked like he was going to cry that whole meeting!”

Zuko couldn’t help but laugh as well, “I know! I feel sort of guilty now.”

“Oh,  _ please  _ don’t! It was hilarious!” Sokka took a breath and mimed wiping a tear from his eye, “How did that even  _ happen _ ?”

“He’s never met the Firelord,” Zuko explained with a smile, “only Lee from the tea shop. He saw me when I was on my way to my room. He thought I was here to make tea.”

“That’s  _ amazing _ . Oh man, wait until I tell the others about this – Zuko pulled a  _ prank _ !”

“I’d hardly call it that.”

“It was a prank, hotman,” Sokka joked, “and a damn good one. I’m impressed, really.”

“Yes, well, I hope it was worth being late to the meeting. Thank you for keeping them entertained, by the way.”

“Of course!” Sokka assured, leaning back as he stretched his legs out under the table. They sat traditionally on cushions around the low table, “I figured you were doing something important, and I didn’t want them to get all pissy because you were late. My years of managing the Gaang has made me pretty good at keeping people from trying to kill each other.”

“A skill that is desperately needed in these meetings.” Then Zuko sighed, reaching up to scratch Druk, “We have two more today, and I’m not looking forward to it.”

“I’ll keep you company,” Sokka promised, shifting so he was sitting on his knees, “And if you need a break, I’ll give you an out.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

Sokka shrugged, “I’ll find a way. If I can plan a siege and help invent air travel, I can find a way for you to get out of a meeting. It’s what fiancés are for.”

“Why do I have a feeling your way out is just going to be you pretending to faint?”

Sokka gasped,like he was offended, “Zuko, you  _ wound  _ me! I would never do something as lame as that!”

“Says the man that once had a fake beard stuck on him for twenty-four hours.”

“That was  _ one  _ time!”

Zuko laughed, which made Sokka grin. 

He leaned forward and kissed Zuko, which took him by surprise. He glanced at the door to make sure no one was around before reciprocating, reaching a hand around to lay on Sokka’s shoulder. One of Sokka’s hands snaked around his waist, pulling him closer.

“ _ Ahem,  _ Firelord Zuko?”

The two boys broke apart quickly, Zuko’s face burning brightly.

At the entrance of the room was one of the Elders, who frowned deeply. 

“Yes, Elder Eichi?” He managed, clearing his throat and sitting up straight. He could  _ feel  _ Sokka staring at him, and he knew he was barely holding in laughter, which made it rather difficult for Zuko to concentrate.

“The meeting about the established colonies is not for another hour – the kitchen staff were wondering if you will take lunch, and where.”

“In the garden,” Sokka responded for him, “Spirits know we need a break.”

“If anyone has any questions before the meeting, they’re free to come to me,” Zuko offered, “But yes, I think lunch in the garden is a good idea.”

Elder Eichi nodded and bowed before leaving the room. Once he had, Zuko groaned and flopped back onto the floor, Druk squawking indignantly as he moved to rest on Zuko’s chest.

Sokka just laughed at him, of course.

“Don’t laugh,” Zuko chided, “The Elders already don’t like you, and they tolerate me because I’m Firelord. I don’t need  _ another  _ coup on my hands.”

“Oh, relax,” Sokka replied, standing up, “They need to loosen up. And besides, we’re engaged. They have to be used to some kind of physical affection.”

“They don’t need to see us making out.”

“If that’s what you call ‘making out’, then I think I’m going to be severely disappointed in the near future.”

“ _ Sokka! _ ”

He only laughed again and offered a hand to Zuko, “C’mon. Let’s go have a picnic. No make-outs, I promise.”

“Fine.”

Zuko sat up and grabbed Sokka’s hand, accepting his help up. Druk protested again and fluttered to Sokka’s shoulders, as they were very close once he stood. Sokka gave him a quick kiss before stepping back, still holding onto Zuko’s hand.

“Let’s go eat before another Elder comes and is passive-aggressive towards us.”

“Good plan.”


End file.
